


Devilman: 12/21

by saltydoesarchive



Category: Devilman (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Demons, Gen, High School, Minor Character Death, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 09:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22967479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltydoesarchive/pseuds/saltydoesarchive
Summary: 17 year old Akira Fudo is a young Japanese American student to Ridge High School. His childhood friends, Ryo Asuka and Miki Makimura been with him through his highs and lows. However, things take a turn for the worse on December 21st, 2012; the end of the world.
Relationships: Fudo Akira/Makimura Miki
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	1. December 20th

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo. This is a Devilman Fanfic based off a dream I had where there was a Live Action Devilman movie directed by me. Ever since, I wanted to make it a reality. But since I'm not a director, I could settle for the next best thing, making it into a Fanfic of course! This is my first fanfic, so I'd advise for you to be ready for things that need to be polished.

Hey there. I'm Akira. Akira Fudo. You might know me as 'Devilman' nowadays. But I don't want to talk about me nowadays, I wanna talk about where my story began. It all started about a week ago. The start to no doubt, the craziest week of my life so far…

One week ago…

Date: December 20th, 2012

7:30 AM. Akira had set his alarm to go off 15 minutes ago...He did wake up to it. Just to only go back to sleep. Just to only get smacked in the face by a pillow.

"Hey- whoa! Ouch, ouch! Okay, I'm up!" Akira basically fell out of his bed from sheer surprise. His vision was blurry and the rising sun didn't help things. Thankfully he could make out a trench coat and blonde hair. He immediately recognized the shape. "R-Ryo..? What was the big idea!?"

"It's Thursday. You can't really sleep in yet you know. At least not until tomorrow." Ryo gave a blunt answer. "Besides, you yourself said you wanted me to wake you up if you didn't today." Akira cocked his head, Ryo couldn't tell if he was denying it or just joking.

"I would do no such thing!" Akira protested. Just then, Ryo pulls out a tape recorder and plays the current track with a deadpan expression. "Ryo, can you do me a solid and wake me up on time? I'm personally sick of my erratic sleep schedule." 

"Yeah well..I could've said that any time! You could've just recorded me asking you that like a month ago." The black haired male pout. Ryo immediately shot back with another recording. "Oh and Ryo?" Asked Akira in the recording. "Maybe record this too if I'm not feeling up to it." Just like that, Ryo made his case. He throws Akira's clothes at him as he approaches the door leaving his bedroom. "Got that now? Now get off your lazy ass." Akira just simply sighs.

Ryo jumps down the flight of stairs leading into the living room of Akira's house, sticking the landing with gusto. "He's up now Mr. and Mrs. Fudo. You can thank me later." He gave both of them a smirk, Akira's mother in the dining room preparing three cinnamon buns for breakfast.

"Akira! There you are." The maiden glances at her son. "Had it not been for Ryo, I'd have to wake you up myself."

"Hey, come on..." Akira shakes his head, waking himself up a bit more. "You know well at this point I don't like it." 

"Yeah well, sometimes you leave me no choice." She frowns. "I expect you to be more responsible with your sleeping schedule. This is high school after all. We've had this talk plenty of times. Now come and get your breakfast." She points down to the cinnamon buns, there being two now. "I made one for each of you, Ryo, and Miki."

Reijiro Fudo tightens the bolt on a loose hinge of a pantry. "Ryo already nabbed his in case you're wondering."

"Thanks again by the way, Mrs. Fudo." Ryo pops his head from behind the front door, taking a hefty bite out of the pastry.

"Now Ryo," Akira's mother leans a bit to get a look at Ryo. "Are you driving Akira to school this time I take it?"

"Yeah, and Miki too." Ryo confirmed. "Anything else Mrs. Fudo?"

"Try not to crash or put anyone in danger again." Akira's father speaks up. "With what Akira told me last time, you nearly got caught by the police for going over the speed limit!"

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Fudo..." He leaves the door open as he walks down to his car once he sees Akira starting to approach with his backpack and the remaining two cinnamon buns.

"Thanks mom!" Akira gives his mother a goodbye kiss before heading to the door. Akira makes his way to Ryo's car; a red ferrari. It always made Akira a bit envious that Ryo was far more wealthier in comparison to him and Miki. Speaking of Miki.

"Hey, Akira! there you are!" Miki leans to her open window to greet her friend. "Geez, if I didn't know any better, I'd assume you went into hibernation for the winter." Ryo hops into the car through the driver's side window. Akira meanwhile opens the door to the passenger seat, and Miki is sitting in the back seats.

"So quick legitimate question guys." Ryo glances to his side at Akira and Miki. "What time is it?"

"Uhhhh......." Both Akira and Miki scramble to look at their cell phones to see the date. Miki was quick on the draw though, quickly answering with. "7:37. Oh geez louise. We spent too long here..."

"7:37?" The blonde turns on the radio. Make that 7:38 AM now. "Heh..We'll have some time to spare when we make it to school."

Miki's face drowned in sudden dread, and so did Akira's. "Uh oh..." 

"Oh dear..." 

"SEAT BELTS AKIRA!" Panicking, Miki pushes herself far into the seat as possible and scrambled to put on the seatbelt. Akira didn't waste any time following her example. Good timing as soon as the two buckled up, Ryo floored it and the car zoomed forward.

"H-Hey, Ryo!" Akira hangs on to his seatbelt, trying to not be bounced and thrown about by the reckless driving. "Didn't my mom say to not do this kind of driving again!?"

"Yeah, she did." Ryo smirks yet again. "But she isn't my mom, now is she?"

"No. But--"

"-But you can very easily hurt someone Ryo." Miki finishes Akira's sentence.

"That's the idea; High risk, high reward as I always say." Coming up on an intersection, Ryo turns the steering wheel as hard as he humanly could, causing some cars to swerve off and make some pedestrians run in a panic.

"FUCK!!!" Said one civilian, running out of the way just before Ryo's car hits him. Despite the aggressive turn, Ryo still managed to somehow not crash into ANYTHING. While that is an impressive feat and shown he's gotten good at being such a speeding rebel, that doesn't mean Akira or Miki can shake the fear of him inevitably breaking something.

Ryo's car pulls up near the school, the blonde looking behind to see if there were any officers chasing them during that.."driving." It was more of a rampage if anything. "Hm. No one squealed this time, huh?"

"No one?" Akira spoke up. "I'm sure the tires squealed harder than a pig this time..."

"Yeah..I can second that." Miki followed.

"But like I said- we'd arrive at school just in time, right?" Ryo gave a charming smirk at the two, the two simply returned a glare that had some spite behind it- but dammit neither of them could bring to truly hate him. This was just his average nature and that's kind of why he's so lovable to Akira and Miki. He provides a little thrill in their somewhat rural lifestyle.

"You know what your problem is honestly Ryo?" Akira had a weak sheepish smile. "You're never wrong."

Ryo gives a shrug as he pats his steering wheel. "What can I say? I aim to please." The trio opened their doors as they looked at their familiar high school.

"Ahh..Ridge High School." Miki whimsically sighed.

"What a shit hole." Ryo finished her statement. Right after that, the bell rang at 7:50AM, signifying every student in the premises to make their way to their class, the gang being no exception to that rule. It certainly made school a bit more tolerable when they share a class, something of a rarity with each passing grade level.

//..End of Chapter 1


	2. School Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooo mama. Finally, another chapter. Welcome back if you read this mess at the first chapter. I was working on this fic for the last several months and I just finished it sometime ago. Chapters will be uploaded on a weekly basis on Wednesdays. So expect chapter 3 next week.

Date: 10:55 AM, December 20th

"..being the most advanced civilization in the Mesoamerican region during the 500s, the Mayans were one of the earliest people to understand astrology." History class. Besides math, its almost no surprise that it's the most quiet class in High School. Among the trio, it really shows how different they are among each other. Akira being a quiet learner, Miki being the only one actively listening, Ryo meanwhile not caring at all.

**PFFT!**

Akira visibly flinches feeling a spitball hit the back of his neck. Oh boy, this is happening now of all times, isn't it? Akira tries to ignore it despite his clear irritation, as he reaches behind to swat the disgusting wad of chewed up paper off. 

"...ayans constructed a stone panel, a very primitive calendar--" Out of nowhere, the teacher was interrupted by Miki who raised her hand with excitement.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know this one! I did this one as a presentation last year!" The brunette cheered. "Can I share what I remember, Mr. Okawa?"

"Hm. I would say it's rude to interrupt, but if you're confident with what you know, then go ahead Miki." Mr. Okawa steps back behind his desk as Miki steps front and center. 

"The Mayans constructed a calendar that started with what they thought to be the beginning of the universe and everything, but it had a end-date as most calendars do." Miki skimmed through a small notebook containing little information jotted down for at least a year. "There was also a running theory that Mayans created the calendar that started on the day monstrous creatures were frozen in the arctics, and ends on what they anticipate would be when they break free- long story short, causing a Judgement Day scenario."

**PFFT!**

There it is again. Another spitball on Akira's neck. "Okay, Henry..." he whispered to a male behind him. "If your goal was to make me mad, you're doing a good job..."

"Who said anything about making anyone mad?" A blonde taunted, having an innocent ruse just to make Akira more irritated. "I'm not doing anything Akira, honest."

"Come on- leave the guy alone." Ryo joined in on the mini argument currently breaking out while Miki rambles to the class. "I think he's got enough of it, Henry."

Henry rolled his eyes once Akira's friend spoke. While he may pick on Akira, it seems as though Ryo visibly intimidates him. Akira waves at Ryo and mouths the words 'thank you!' to him, the blonde waving back mouthing 'you're welcome buddy'.

"..The theory of it being a judgement day comes from the fact that the Mayan Calendar ends on such a specific date; December 21st, 2012. In other words; tomorrow. _Ooooh~_ " Miki waves her fingers around with a small smile. The gesture only makes Akira chuckle and Ryo grow an amused smirk. Gosh, Miki was such a dork.

Mr. Okawa speaks once more. "Alright- thank you for your time Miki. You can sit back down now." The teacher cocks his head forward, telling her to sit back down. "You heard it here first, kids. Get as much fun as you can tonight, for it may be your last! Mwah ha ha ha ha!" And now the entire class just facepalms at Mr. Okawa's joke. "No? Okay then." He was trying to entertain his class, he couldn't help it. Before it could get any more awkward, the bell rings at 11:00; the lunch bell. 

"Alright everyone." The students all approach the door, Mr. Okawa meanwhile going to open it for them. "I'll be seeing you next week. If there is gonna be a next we--"

"Teach? Please stop." One of the students interrupted him. 

The trio, Akira, Ryo, and Miki meanwhile approach their lockers to get their lunches out. "So, Miki?" Akira asked.

"Yeah?" The brunette responded.

"Do you really believe that cockamamie about tomorrow being the 'end of the world'?" Akira pulls his lunch out of the locker, in a small brown paper bag.

"No! Of course not." Miki laughs heartily. "The idea is ridiculous if you ask me. It's not like anything really bad happened to signify it! Natural disaster or otherwise!"

"Besides," Ryo leans against his locker waiting for the other two. "This 'End of the world' crud happened before. Remember back when people were throwing as much of a fit when it was gonna be 2000?"

"Ohh, yeahhh!" Miki giggles, remembering such a thing. "That Y2K nonsense! I remember just before it became midnight, Akira cried like a baby!"

Akira pouts, nudging Miki's shoulder playfully. "I was like 4 when that happened. Could barely speak a lick of English back then too." Ryo suddenly goes behind Akira and gives him a sympathetic pat.

"Hey, happens to the majority of us-- the shoddy english back then I mean." Ryo looks away to snort at the remark. "But seriously though Akira, we kinda stopped laughing at you crying over the new year around the 2nd grade. If that makes you feel any better pal."

Akira chuckles a bit. "It actually kind of does, really."

Few minutes later at the cafeteria, various students order their lunch and make their spot on any table of interest- all except for one table. The one table in question being one occupied by the three. Ever since Middle school, the three had a table all to themselves, always just for the fact that they're "foreigners" and can't fit in no matter how hard they try. They hardly mind it as they always had on each other. It upset Akira and Miki once it became far more frequent, though Ryo made the weight completely disappear when he assured them nothing of value would be lost.

Things were going well up until Akira's face had a distinct look. He almost forgot something when he realized the Lunch period was nearing its end! He scarfed down the rest of his lunch before rushing off to leave Ryo and Miki.  
Akira runs outside into a field with nothing too impressive to see. He leans down near a tree, pulling out various vegetables from his sweatshirt. "Hey guys...I'm sorry I nearly forgot!" From a hole in the tree emerged a small rabbit. It cocked its head curiously, but leaned in on the lettuce the young one had pulled out. Akira just simply smiles and even does a small giggle.

"I was wondering where you ran off to during lunch, Akira." A familiar voice for Akira. 

"B-Henry? Now's not the best time for this." Akira frowned at the sight of the familiar riff-raff. Then, Akira audibly yelps when before he could fully register it- Henry grabbed the small rabbit in a headlock. "Stop it! You're gonna hurt the poor thing!"

"Ehh, won't be the first time I hurt one of these things. What's this one? Hazel?" The blond's arms started to turn a bit, the rabbit struggling to get out more and more. Just then, Henry feels a sharp sensation on his back. Then a third voice.

"I bet now you wanna leave the thing alone, huh?"

"Ryo!" Akira sighed a breath of relief. Behind Henry was Ryo, a hunter knife in hand that he had on the bully's back. Ryo gave Akira a nonchalant wave.

Ryo stabbed the blade through Henry's jacket a bit more, not enough to break the skin, but definitely close to pricking him should Ryo apply more force. "Now, put the rabbit down, or else you're gonna be wishing you had one of their feet." Ryo smirked once he saw Henry was clearly shaking from Ryo.

"Okay..Okay...Shit." He definitely wanted to torture Akira- but Henry was more scared of Ryo than anything else in the school. Putting the rabbit down, it scurries off into the woods, Akira definitely looking somber due to the thought that Henry just might've scared it off from ever returning.

"Hey, Akira?" Almost instantly, it seems like Ryo lost his tough demeanor as he approached Akira. A trait that he displays even more as he rests a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You alright, mate?"

"I'm alright." Akira says as he attempts to fight back the tears. "Just what did I do to them..? I take care of rabbits clearly struggling to find a home this winter, and they scare off every one of them." Ryo looks away, not sure what to say. But the grimace on his face is enough for Akira to know he's empathizing with him. 

"I wish I knew." Ryo responds. "In my experiences, monsters like that typically torment others for no real reason other than for the enjoyment they would get out of it. They're hard to reason with and believe me Akira; I tried."

Akira then just sighs, but grows a smile as he turns to Ryo. "You know...I'm at least glad you came in before it got worse, Ryo. I'd rather one run off than for him to break one of the poor things necks again."

That caused the blonde to chuckle a bit. "I guess I always have a habit of saving your ass then, huh pal?" The two looked at each other with a smile. Before they knew it, the bell rang to signify the end of lunch period. The rest of the school day was mostly lukewarm and simple. Once the lunch period ended, three classes had little to note. Henry was mostly silent to Akira for the rest of the day, and the trio still had little difficulty with what was given to them. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that when the final bell for the school day rang, every student was adamant about getting out. Typical Sophomore behavior. 

Of course like usual, the three got back together, Ryo being in the middle of Akira and Miki. "So, my fellow chums...What's to say we have a sleepover?"

"A sleepover?" Miki tilted her head. "Ryo, we didn't have one since we were 5th graders."

Ryo answers nonchalantly. "Exactly. If the world really is gonna end tomorrow, let's have one more for old times sake."

Akira joined in on the conversation. "We had this discussion before didn't we? You didn't believe the whole 'world ending on the 21st' bull-honkey."

"--And I still don't. What kind of guy do you take me for?" Ryo shoots Akira a smirk, who just looks away. "I'm just saying it'd be nice to have one. If the world doesn't go bang, it doesn't go bang. If it does, well at least we had one final sleepover, yeah?" Ryo shrugged, Miki just rolled her eyes. Man, Ryo is so incorrigible.

"Okay well...I'll try to talk my parents. They're kind of not the kindest to you." Miki nervously scratches the back of her head. "What about you Akira?"

Akira looks back at Miki, but looks straight as he ponders. "Well...Assuming Ryo's driving didn't drive them to insanity, here's hoping that I'd be there tonight."

Of course the blonde had to take that as a yes from both of them. "Great! Looking forward to seeing you guys tonight." The trio got into the car they arrived at school in as Ryo drove them back home. Akira was the first one to be dropped off, as his house was the closest compared to Miki. He stares at the red vehicle as it drives away. Akira couldn't shake this strange bad feeling though. Something was making him scared of tomorrow. He dismissed it as the anxiety of the world truly ending tomorrow though.  


Well...In case it does, at least he'll be around close friends when it happens. Akira snapped out of the trance state as he opened the door, doing the usual greeting to his parents that he's back, before heading up to his room to begin his homework, then asking them about sleeping over at Ryo's. He knew one of them would immediately ask if he had homework the very second he pops the question. Might as well get it out of the way before doing so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 2. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next week!


	3. A Chilling Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slumber party between Akira, Ryo, and Miki commences. Things were going particularly well until the clock struck midnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I'd do a weekly schedule! Not to spoil anything, but this is where things start picking up. This is where it starts to really become the Devilman most of you were probably expecting. Just gotta do more slice of life stuff first.

_Date: 9:00 PM, December 20th_

Homework thankfully wasn't as hard as it could be for Akira. He went through his assignments confidently then immediately sought to approach his parents. After roughly a few minutes of intense consideration, and even looking at the news if anything major with Ryo happened during the morning drive. There was a collective sigh of relief with the entire Fudo family once there was no reports. Then a laugh from all of them. With all those things checked out, Akira's mother was the one who gave Akira the 'yes' on going to Ryo's house tonight, even being the one driving him to the huge mansion that was Ryo's home. As long as Akira could get back home before 1:00AM at the latest, they had no issue.

"You know, Ryo." Miki spoke, laying in a beanbag chair.

"Yeah?" The male glances to Miki curiously. He also had a bit of paint on his face. Though given it dried, it's easy to conclude that the paint came from Miki fooling around with Ryo a few hours ago.

"This is a rhetorical question but," Miki took a moment to recollect herself, she knew this was going to be a stupid question. "It's December, right?"

The question made Ryo cock his head curiously. "Y-Yeah..?" He didn't have to explain how dumb it sounded. His bewildered look did most of the talking.

"Well..." Miki continued. "Usually it snows around this time. Yet we went the entire month without even a single snowflake. Isn't that just..A little bit off putting?"

"Eh, not really." Ryo responds. "Just because it doesn't snow doesn't mean it's anything irregular. It doesn't continuously snow all year around."

"Yeah, and I'd be inclined to believe that." She spoke once again. "Though it's just it doesn't feel like it's December. If anything it feels like..May. Or Late August. The lowest temperature we got was a measly 71 degrees in the last two months!"

"..Huh." Ryo blinks. "I guess I never really thought about it like that." Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of what sounded like a church bell. It was Ryo's doorbell. He's so rich that his house's doorbell sounds like an actual bell. Talk about overcompensation. "That's probably Akira."

Miki stood up from her beanbag. She figured she'd save Ryo the trip by giving a chipper "I got it!" to answer the door. Despite the size of the mansion, Miki (and Akira) are more than familiar with the structure. Anyone would likely get lost normally, but to Akira and Miki, as well as the Asuka family, it was just simply a bigger house with bigger hallways. "Hey! Akira. Took you long enough." Miki was the one who opened the door to greet her old friend. "Me and Ryo were just about starting to get worried you wouldn't show up, you know."

Akira chuckles nervously. "Well, I guess I unintentionally have a thing with being fashionably late..."

"Hey, is that the star of the party?" Ryo opened the second door of his mansion. He had paint on his face which only caused Akira to snicker. "Oh, you're laughing at this aren't you?" Akira chuckles a bit louder in confirmation. "Yeah uh...Let's say I made a bet...And Miki won." 

"That's the abridged version of it at least. Frankly, that's all you need to know~" Miki had more paint on her finger, which she promptly rubbed said finger on Ryo's cheek.

"So...Where's your father, Ryo?" Akira tilted his head, noticing that Ryo's dad was nowhere to be seen in the house. He's usually somewhere either relaxing, or researching his head off.

"He's in Antarctica." Ryo answered. "Something came up that made him take an expedition a couple of days ago. Something about how something in the center of it caught his team's attention, so he rushed off and left me alone for a while." Ryo shrugged. "But hey, I'm loyal to my old man. I won't wreck the place and he knows it."

Akira isn't going to lie. Despite how troublesome Ryo tends to be, he's still surprised that he shows respect for his father after all these years. Frankly, it's something admirable he finds with Ryo. But that thought doesn't go for too long, as the trio engaged in a good time. They did the rather simpler things; playing video games, or just games in general. Talked about childhood memories and current interests, among other things. Though unbeknownst to them, in the bitter cold center of Antarctica...

Two archaeologists on an expedition were venturing into a cave that had gotten colder the further they went down. Fortunately the equipment they had were making the intense temperature a minor inconvenience. Then, one of them slipped into a crevice neither of them noticed. "Professor Asuka!" The other shouted. Looking into the hole to see their partner on the expedition. It felt like 5 seconds of falling before there was a thud.

"Ahh..Don't worry- I'm fine." He assures his partner from down below. Though one turn around and he could be heard gasping. "Greyson..You're going to have to see this. This is...Incredible!" A few seconds of reluctance, and the other archaeologist slipped into the crevice, landing right near the one leading the operation. His eyes widen from under his helmet.

"..Hiro. What is **that!?** " The two stood face to face with a block of ice. A block of ice that contains a strange creature that neither of them have ever seen. It looked like something out of a horror story. Such excitement almost didn't make them notice the strange crystal-like object, resembling another one of the strange creatures in the ice. Going from the head to the base of the neck. It was large in size, but Hiro had no problem lifting it. He handed it to Greyson before facing the abnormal creature.  
Then, Hiro pulled out a small drill, and a syringe. "It's incredibly well preserved...We could get a blood sample in the condition it's in now. We have to research this marvelous thing." Greyson stood back, nearing the slope he and the other slid down on. He aimed the drill towards the arm of the creature and began drilling his way near the skin. Big mistake.

Suddenly, the ice encasing the beast started to crack. The creature itself, locked eyes with Hiro. It was alive! The two stepped back in fear...Then quickly bolted for it. Hiro was the one to use a ice pick to climb him and his assistant out, he was surprisingly stronger than he looked. Neither of them looked back, or dropped the object they found. But they could hear the ice breaking more and more. Once they climbed out successfully, they didn't waste any time running back onto the ship they came in on, with strict orders on the captain to get the hell out of there. Hiro took one final look once the sea vessel started to drift and move across the sea, and the last thing he saw was at least thousands- maybe even millions more of these creatures pouring out from the ice, letting out a screech that no one person in the world has ever come close to hearing...

_Back at the Asuka residence. 12:00AM, December 21st_

There was a brief tremor that shook the entire mansion. A few dishes fell over, making all of them wince from surprise. If the trio were engaged in a conversation, the quake certainly shut them up as silence fell into the room after the tremor.  
"..Was that an Earthquake?" Miki was the one to break the silence, getting up to look out the window. Seeing nearby houses, their own windows pitch black until the lights flicker back on in the immediate area. "If I knew there would've been an earthquake tonight, I wouldn't have came, Ryo."

"You think that's bad?" Ryo spoke. "My dad would've had my head if I had a sleepover with you two the night an earthquake happened."  
"Hehe..." Akira can't help but chuckle nervously. "An earthquake happens the very second the clock strikes midnight on the 21st." He tried to make light of the situation. But Ryo and Miki could see through him and could tell he was scared to bits. He caved eventually. "Um..My parents are probably worried about me. I should be heading home now. This was a fun visit though, Ryo." The awkward silence was replaced with all three of them chatting again, this time the sound of agreement was pulsing in the conversation. Seems as though they were just as shaken up as Akira. Ryo got up as he knew he was tasked with taking them home, assuming neither of their parents went into a panic and went to drive to them.

Akira and Miki wanted to get that covered so they both pulled out their phones and went into separate rooms, informing their parents that they're okay after the sudden earthquake. They could barely get the information out though given their parents could be heard freaking out. Ryo meanwhile kept his cold stoic self...Yet he was worried for his own father. He was out on an expedition, so he was hoping he didn't get into any kind of trouble out there. As Ryo sat there in his thoughts, Akira and Miki both walked out, gesturing for Ryo to come along and take them back.

The drive wasn't as upbeat as the one from morning. Ryo actually managed to drive normally, all the while the car was filled with more silence. None of them had a problem with it. Though one thing that did worry them a bit was how it was just one huge tremor, as earthquakes usually last longer than that- and typically have a warning of some kind before it happens. The only time the silence was broken was when they arrived at their respective homes. Ryo and Miki did a usual quick farewell before she went to her door. While Ryo drove off, Akira looked back and saw Miki's family greeting her in a huge hug. They really must've been worried about her.

"So..." Akira wanted to make small talk with Ryo as they approached his own house. "Yeah...About that sleepover."

"Yeah, Akira." Ryo turned a bit to look at the other. "It's just me. You can tell me you were scared."

"Very scared." Akira confessed. "Very, very, scared."

"-Yeah, I get it." Ryo turns to face the road again. His face doesn't budge, but he still feels empathy for the young man.

Akira shakes his head, before turning to stare out the window, seeing the street lights and other people in their homes. "I was always scared of earthquakes..."

Ryo makes a sharp turn, probably the only reckless driving he's made so far. "Understandable...Those things were basically the reason you and your parents moved out of Japan in the first place. Me and Miki just didn't wanna leave you hanging alone in a country you felt alien in."

"So..You guys came with me because you didn't want me alone?" Akira turned his stare back to Ryo. Who just simply nods. Akira grew a hopeful, warm smile. "Ryo, you have no idea how happy that makes me that you two wanted to stick with me my entire life."

"You said it..." The blonde faced Akira when he stopped at a red light. "And honestly, I don't feel much. But I can't imagine living in a world without you. I think I'd rather just die if you were out of the picture." Suddenly, Ryo just began laughing. "Remember that time when you were still learning English, and you thought 'fuck' meant amazing? And you just went 'Pizza is fuck!'"

The two erupt into laughter. That kept going even when Ryo parked right in front of Akira's home. "Okay, Ryo...I guess better luck next time?"

"Yeah, of course. When this whole thing blows over, we'll party hard like we haven't before." Ryo shot Akira a smirk and a wink. The latter just smiles and waves to Ryo while he drives off. Knocking on his house door before opening it, he walks in to see his parents awaiting him. Thankfully they're not upset. At least they didn't look like it.

"Take it you guys were worried sick about me after that tremor, huh?" Akira sheepishly smiles at his parents.

"Of course." His mother was the first to speak. "What kind of parents would we be if we weren't?" They were just happy their son made it back in one piece.

"It was definitely a sudden one." Reijiro spoke. "We looked all over the news, and yeah..It was definitely one that came out of nowhere. For an earthquake that was about a 6 in magnitude..It certainly didn't last long or do a lot. But that's besides the point." He reached a hand on Akira's back, and guided him to the stairs. "It seems like it's over now. So get some sleep for school tomorrow."

"Wait- really? I thought they'd cancel school tomorrow over this!" Akira was surprised. It felt a bit unfair that after that, no days off were remotely considered.

His mother just sighs. "Yeah..But we don't make the rules here unfortunately." She shakes her head with a shrug. "We'll try to make it up for you after school though. No doubt you're shaken up after it hun."

Although his father speaks up a bit on the optimistic side. "Well..It has been around 30 minutes give or take since the earthquake. Maybe they haven't fully considered it yet?" Regardless of what may be the case, Akira basically vanishes into his room and falls flat on his bed with the elegance of a dead otter falling off a cliff. Before he knew it, he was asleep, though a part of him wished he didn't. Something in him was telling him he could have a handful of reasons why he shouldn't go to school. He drifted off and waited for what would happen.

_7:15AM, December 21st_

Akira's eyes slowly fluttered open at the sound of his alarm clock going off...He doesn't know if he's relieved or disappointed that he isn't waking up to scorching heat or being under tons of rubble. The fact that his parents weren't panicking him awake led him to believe in the time he's been asleep, nothing happened. Was it really just a simple quick quake? He wasn't too sure, but that doesn't stop him from aimlessly moving his hand to try to turn off the alarm...Which only ends with him knocking it off. Yeah, that was definitely something to push him up off the bed. He audibly groans as he moves off the bed. Picking up the clock as he sat up on the edge of his bed. Looking at his door, he was surprised he didn't see Ryo barging in like a psycho. Well, at least he can have a decent normal morning today. Akira was able to do his usual routine uninterrupted, brushing his teeth, washing his face, combing his hair. Getting in a last minute breakfast from his mother before he heads off to school on his own. After the stress that was induced on everyone thanks to last night, Akira didn't want to burden any of his friends or family for the trip, so instead he took a motorcycle that his father passed him down for his birthday.

The drive to school was particularly mundane. Nothing really happened up until Akira looked and saw what looked like a crime scene. Though from what he saw on his end, Akira saw no tire skid marks going into the building- or hell, any cars for that matter. Officers were around the area, so were paramedics...Then Akira nearly fumbled off and became a crash site himself as he realized he wasn't paying any attention to the road. Thankfully he didn't mess up the motorcycle and went back on a normal course for school. Still, it was going to bother him as for what happened. He could only guess that the building got utterly wrecked by the earthquake last night which was the best possible conclusion he could come to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 3. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next week!


	4. December 21st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira was expecting today to go by with little attention towards the tremors of last night. But little did he know, things were far from over.

Time: 2:45 PM

Arriving at school at 8 in the morning was nothing out of the ordinary. Akira would end up meeting Ryo and Miki. Seems Miki came with her parents this time whereas Ryo came in his own car. The three gave each other the usual greeting as they went into the building. For the most part, things were uneventful and things seemed like a normal school day. It would be if not for the fact the earthquake from last night caused Akira to be rather tired in class just from sheer stress alone. As the lesson progressed, Akira felt his eyelids start to get heavier. It felt like he had two tons on both sides of his face, plus tied to his neck by a rope. Just when he felt like he was going to conk out right at his desk...

BOOM!

Knowing his luck, that would've been the teacher's ruler smacking his desk in an attempt to wake him up. But that wasn't the case, as the teacher was on the opposite side of the room, at the whiteboard, like usual. It wasn't assuring that the teacher looked just as confused as he did- heck, he looked just as confused as every other student in the class. Whatever talking was happening in the classroom, or by the teacher, everything went dead silent. Only for a few seconds, but those seconds felt like an eternity with the sudden pressure and anxiety. That was when the principal came over the intercom.

"Attention Ridge High." Said the principal, who sounded way more distressed than anyone ever heard. Even Ryo seemed a bit disturbed. Though, by comparison he was the most calm. But any sort of concern out of him was already a bad sign. "This school is-is going into lock down! This is not a drill. Lock the doors, evacuate the school, whatever you do- just--!" Just like that, the announcement was cut off. No time was allowed for anyone to sink in, especially after the class teacher locked the door as demanded. That's when everyone heard...

Thump...

Something sounding like a footstep.

Thump...

It was getting closer. Their teacher gestured to them to quietly, and carefully hide under their desk while he went to shut the lights off. Though as he did that.

Thump, thump, thump!

The footsteps gotten quicker. Much quicker. They were too loud and heavy to belong to another student, let alone a human! That's when the doors burst open from a large rhinoceros-like creature breaking it down with incredible strength. There was no point in hiding now as every student and their teacher screamed from surprise and horror. "No way..." Was the only thing Ryo reacted with. Aside from the screams, everyone in the class reacted by huddling up in a corner, using their desks as panic-induced riot shields from the creature.

"I...Do not know any way to deal with this..." The teacher said as he eyed the monster. In another instant, the creature suddenly began glowing and used an electric-like emission to completely crisp the teacher. The sight caused everyone to yelp in distress.

"Welp...Now I don't have adult supervision for this." Ryo reached into his brown trench coat and pulled out a machine gun. Everyone just simply looks at Ryo and then back at the creature, who was only now approaching the students after dealing with the teacher.

"Ryo..." Miki tilted her head to look at him. "..I'm concerned when I ask, how long did you have that?"

"Long enough for it to come in handy right now." Ryo smirked as he rubs the gun. "Like it? A Vityaz-SN. 9x19mm submachine gun--"

"Okay, no time for gun talk. Does it work!?" Akira broke Ryo's rambling.

"I don't know if it can pierce the armor though..." Ryo aimed the gun and sure enough, it didn't pierce the creature. But it did at least cause it to flinch. Ryo just shrugs as though to say 'good enough for me!'. "Alright my fellow teenage tykes, just stay next to me and I can only promise I can get some of you out of here alive..." Ryo started to sidle to the side, of course after saying that sentence, everyone instinctively surrounded him. The monster approached them, while looking at Ryo. "Ah-ah-ah! Mind personal space, Rhino!" He fires a few more shots that caused it to stumble back. In the middle of it being toppled by gun fire, it rushed forward and impaled one of the students with its large horns. "Well damn..." He sighs, firing once more at the beast.

This continued with a few more students getting impaled by the creature's horns, or somethings by the electric powers that did their teacher in. Once Ryo and the other students got near the door, Ryo just looked back at the monster. "Well, this was fun, Taurus. But I value my and my actual friend's survival!" Grabbing onto Miki and Akira's hands after putting the gun back in his coat, he rushes out the door as fast as he could. The creature just saw Ryo as the bigger threat and began chasing after him, ignoring the other students. "Akira!" Ryo looks back as he lets them go, letting them run for themselves. "I'd honestly prefer it if you ran better!"

"Can you give Akira a minute!?" Miki said as they started to slow down near the cafeteria. For no reason other than it was a coincidence that that was the place they stopped near. "He just saw his teacher and six students die in the same afternoon!"

"Yeah, Miki? Well maybe I'm a little freaked out too!" Ryo patted himself on the chest for emphasis.

"You know Akira isn't as strong as you!" Miki tried to rub Akira's back, but Akira just gestures to Miki to keep her hands to herself. "We gotta stop by a water fountain--"

"I'm good guys." Akira finally spoke up. "I guess I'm just trying to register what I saw..."

Ryo looks around awkwardly. "I'd say take all the time you need, Akira. But I really hate to put pressure on you, but we basically got a rhino from the pits of hades roaming around the school. The best thing I can advise us to do is get outta here. No point in staying if a teacher dies, right?"

The three look around as they hear a familiar thumping sound effect. "..And fast." Akira finished. The first thing the three thought to do was attempt to open the doors. Instead they were greeted with the door leading outside in the cafeteria being locked. "School must really be on lockdown then..."

"To hell with this..." Ryo says, already frustrated. "I don't feel like playing cat and 3 trapped mice at this point." Ryo pulled out a small shotgun and shot at one of the cafeteria windows twice, creating several cracks. Then he tosses a chair at it to completely break the window open.

"Wait-" Miki stares at the shotgun. "Okay, if you had that one, why didn't you use that on the thing?"

"Shotguns aren't good for piercing armor. They just pack a lot of punch." Ryo says, cocking the shotgun and a couple of shells fall out as a result. "But they are good for getting that things attention probably. That aside, let's just go." Ryo helps Akira and Miki out of the window, with himself being last. The main trio couldn't even manage to say anything to each other, as they were focused on just simply making their way home. Ryo being the one to take care of Miki as her parents couldn't be available immediately, so Akira had to drive himself back on his motorcycle.

When he got home, he was greeted with his parents, being more terrified for his well being than usual. They basically dragged him into the house and locked the doors as tightly as they could. "Ohh! Akira!" His mother sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "We were worried sick about you!"

Akira meanwhile just blinked in his parents' grip. "I imagine you were..." He was about to continue, but in earshot was the news on TV.

"..an increase of riots have occurred, as these strange monstrous creatures have rampaged along the east coast. Renown Archaeologist; Hiro Asuka had recently come back from a expedition in the Antarctic, alongside he had returned with many creatures that belong in the realm of fantasy. The amount of fatalities caused by these things over the span of 4 hours have already got religious experts claiming that this is exactly what was prophesied; Judgement Day." 

"That's just about what I expected..." Akira continues with a empty expression. "I need to go to my room...I just, I feel like I'm gonna faint." Akira walked upstairs into his room, throwing his backpack on the ground and looked at a large mirror in his room. He looked up as he started grabbing his head and groaning in sheer distress. Monsters? Earthquake? Judgement Day? There's no way any of this could be true, yet he saw it for himself. The constant stress and thoughts were causing him to start getting lightheaded. Good thing he made it to his room in time as Akira just completely collapsed onto his bed, for longer than he probably anticipated.

Several hours later, he awoke to what sounded like knocking on his window. The sounds forced him to wake up and turned to the source of the sound. He recognized the shape against the window as...Ryo? Muffled, Ryo was heard going "Akira! Akira let me in!" Akira obligates and opens his window, letting Ryo slide on in.

Ryo immediately takes a hold of Akira's shoulders, his hair looking rattier than usual, having bags under his eyes, he looks like he's been through hell. "Okay, so..I need you to come with me. Something groundbreaking has been going on."

"Yeah, groundbreaking? I'll bet after that school attack, a domino effect of mass hysteria ensued." Akira pouted.

"No, Akira." Ryo shook his head, he grew an insanely wide grin. "You don't understand. Everything is happening for a reason. My father came back with something good, and it ties into everything that's been happening! What happened at school, everything!"

Akira blinked, then gave Ryo a suspicious look. Before speaking, he forces Ryo's hands off of him. "Ryo..Are you sure the stress isn't getting to you. You look like death."

"Your IGNORANCE is gonna be the death of me, Akira!" He raised his voice a bit. "But look, at my house, my dad has something that can explain absolutely everything. Trust me on this one Akira."

Akira glares at Ryo. He's tempted to tell him off, but he's both curious about what exactly has him in such a state, and wants to entertain what he's saying. Ryo hardly comes to Akira during these hours so he truly felt the blonde has had a realization. "O-Okay Ryo. Just..Promise me you truly know. I don't wanna sneak out when my parents are worried about me more than ever."

"I wouldn't hold my breath to that." Ryo chuckles as he steps back near the window he crawled in through. "Besides, chances are they're probably asleep right now themselves. I saw their bedroom light turn off on my way up here. Makes life all the more easier for me if you ask me..." He guides Akira down a long rope. Once landing, Ryo takes Akira to the red Ferrari and doesn't waste a second driving off. The two looked around, the city was a ghost town, not a single person or car in sight. Giving Ryo plenty of opportunities to not be as careful- as though he really exercises caution.

"So, Akira. That thing in the school? There's more of those. But..Not the same type of creature." Ryo says as he continues driving. "Every one of them looking like either something out of a video game or horror movie."

"Oh, completely assuring, Ryo..." Akira leans down and grab at his head again. "That's what I need; more, even scarier creatures wandering around the state. How can you even say that with a straight face?"

"I keep my fear on the inside, thank you. Assuming I got any of it in the first place. But Akira," Ryo stares at Akira as he stops the car for a moment to explain. "Those things... They're demons."

Akira's face turns to Ryo immediately in confusion. Did..He hear that right? Given the chaos they caused, it's not too far off of a name. But it seems like a stretch. "Demons? Ryo, I thought you weren't the religious type."

"I'm not." He responds coldly. "To keep things simple, Akira; every myth or urban legend we've heard. They're all not so...'legend' or 'myth' anymore. Things like Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman, Loch Ness Monster, **Mothman!** Every one of those folklore stories...They're real and they're as ugly as those stories let on. They're demons that were never frozen or died off. There were a few stragglers, and they happened to live a existence with the very thing they want to get rid of...Humans!"

"Geez..." Akira lets out a worried sigh. "Your father dropped quite a lot on you when he came back, hu--"

"Oh no." Ryo interrupted with such a deadpan tone. "My father didn't tell me any of this."

Akira turned his head at Ryo with such surprise. "Wait- What!? Then...How on earth do you know all of this? Are you just pulling my leg, Ryo!?"

"All will be explained, Akira. Just sit back and wait until we get home." The rest of the drive was silent, and the ambiance of the empty streets didn't help much with this feeling of isolation for Akira. Sure he had Ryo here, but he was also scared for Ryo. He looked like someone with a few loose screws...Well, more loose screws than usual.

Eventually they arrived at the Asuka Mansion. A cool mist could be seen emitting from Ryo's room. There's that sense of worry again. This really was starting to feel like a bad dream for Akira. They approached the front door before Akira asks another question. "Why didn't we bring Miki here? I'm sure she's as worried as the rest of us."

"Why would we bring Miki?" Ryo turns to Akira as though he had asked the dumbest question ever. "No offense, but I don't think that poor girl could handle what I've realized." Then he opens the door with a key. As the two walked in, Ryo immediately locked the doors once again.

"Is it okay for me to wear my shoes in he--" Akira's question was interrupted by Ryo.

"I don't give a shit." A deadpan response as Ryo walked upstairs, Akira felt a cold breeze much stronger than the more subtle one from outside. It was getting more difficult to see as the closer the two went for Ryo's room, the darker it got. At this point, Akira just kept walking forward, almost afraid to walk face first into a wall.

"Akira. Look." Suddenly everything illuminated with a light blue coming from a strange looking mask-like object. The sight alone caused Akira to yelp and step back.

"RYO! What is THAT!?"

"This is what my father found in his expedition in Antarctica." Ryo approaches the monstrous mask and picks it up with no effort on his part. "On the outside, it seems like a simple bust of some lovecraftian horror. A face only a mother could love. But on the inside, this rabbit hole goes much deeper than a few inches in." As he explained, Ryo lowered the mask onto his head, a look of terror was on his face, though his tone would suggest anything but that. "So Akira, put it on."

"N-n..No way Ryo..!" Akira stuttered, he would turn back and run out of here, and he was tempted to. "The thing alone gives me the creeps, I'm almost afraid it'll crush me..."

"Come here and put it on!" Ryo shouted. "Would you rather keep living your life as a hopeless sheep waiting for the slaughter, or know about your enemies before they come close to getting you!?" Ryo lifted it off his head as he got no response.

"Ryo," Akira spoke finally. "I'd much rather have a simple life. I never wanted to be a part of this whole 'demon' escapade that you basically sucked me into. Right now, this all feels like a bad dream to me, and I just want to wake up at any second. You'll be in my room again, and smack me awake with a pillow."

Ryo approached Akira, mask still in hand. "What simple life is there to return to anymore?" He frowned. "Demons are real Akira, they're just going to be a part of our life now and there's not a single thing we can do about it. Just for once, try to live life without fear. If you won't do this for my father's discovery, then do it for me." Ryo lifted the mask up yet again, this time over Akira's head.

Akira took a moment to gaze into Ryo's eyes. Determination was like a fire in his cold eyes, but Akira despite his reluctance, finally caved. He nodded and closed his eyes. "Put it on." The mask lowered onto Akira finally, as he opened his eyes once he felt it lowering no more, he let out a horrified scream. The sheer shock of what the mask was inducing on him was overwhelming.

"Work through the terror Akira!" Ryo shouted. He knew Akira was seeing horrific imagery, something that would make any other man lose their sanity in an instant. "Fight it and see through it all!"

Suddenly, everything went white. Akira was seemingly transported into the middle of a forest, a pond in sight. It was such a stark contrast to what he saw just literal seconds ago. It was..relaxing needless to say. But then Akira realized, the lack of any modern looking animals, and the lack of any sort of industrial structure in sight, he can't help but begin to wonder...Did he travel back to the past? To the age of the dinosaurs?

Before his questions could get anywhere close of an answer, the sky lit up with several things shining. As they lowered and Akira could see them, they looked like angels. Every one of them looking elegant and radiating with both light and power alone. That all changed the moment several of them landed onto the earth below, creatures, a couple even resembling the one that attacked the school came rushing out of the woodworks, eating and murdering the less-alien looking creatures in a bloody carnage. The ones that weren't killed by the surprise assault reacted with attacking the creatures. It was somehow an even match for the primal, disgusting freak of natures and the much more divine looking angels. Akira didn't know what was going on, but he kept on watching despite the even more horrific sight. Explosions started to take over the battlefield, the creatures were starting to get desperate.

Before Akira knew it, the angels started to surround a large golden light that almost looked like the sun, though was far too small to be. Opposing it was a large mass of the monsters, molded together to make what looked like a spacecraft of some kind. The sight itself alone was repulsive as they were seemingly still alive individually, their eyes moving and the entire craft pulsating. Though what confused Akira was that what was seemingly piloting the creatures was another angel. It had 8 wings and short, but spikey hair. It looked familiar just from the hairstyle, but Akira couldn't fully make it out as it radiated a strong light that made it blinding to look at.

Suddenly, blackness. Akira found himself in a void filled with nothing. He was standing on something, but nothing at the same time. He felt like he was literally walking on air.

"Fu...do..." A deep, growling voice spoke. Akira turned to where he heard it. Nothing. Again, it spoke. "Fu...do." This time more clearly. It was definitely calling for him. At first it was just the one voice, but soon enough it sounded like a choir saying "Fudo..." the chant went on for a agonizing minute until Akira shouted

 **"STOP!"** Then everything went silent. He looked down in both fear in conclusion, until he felt something big right in front of him. 

He was too afraid to look up. Then it spoke with a simple, "Fudo..." Akira looked up and saw the last thing he wanted to see, a huge red humanoid- satanic entity. It had protruding wings both out the back, and the head. Akira couldn't make out anymore of it before he was back in Ryo's room, throwing off the mask in a panic.

"So, Akira..." Ryo had his hands in his jacket pockets. "What did you see?"

 _"Too..much."_ He gave Ryo a glare and a shaky sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 4. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next week!  
> Or at least that's what I would say. Lately I've been thinking about posting two chapters on a weekly basis. And given that this chapter is published not on a Wednesday, that should be an indicator that I made up my mind. So..See you in Chapter 5 this upcoming Wednesday!


	5. No longer Amon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After experiencing the history of the demons before his eyes, Akira and Ryo come up with a plan to turn the tides in their favor. Even if it means potentially losing themselves...

Akira and Ryo were sitting in the absurdly huge kitchen of Ryo's house. Akira had explained just about everything he saw in the mask. Right down to the horrific details of the fate that fell over the angels.

"Yep..." Ryo simply sighs. "That's just about what I saw too."

"Then there was this angel on top of a mass of other demons. It was like it was piloting them as an aircraft of some kind as it opposed a big ball of light. I couldn't make out any details that made that angel different from the others though." When Akira said that, it made Ryo raise an eyebrow out of confusion, something Akira noted. "You...didn't see that I take it?"

"No, I didn't." Ryo confirms, which only makes him think. "I guess it has different effects on whoever wears it as I saw nowhere close to that."

"And then I was surrounded in darkness. Things were saying my last name collectively. Then it just all stopped until the one saying it all was standing in front of me. It was another one of those demons, he was big and red. He also had wings and- that's just about all I could make out of it."

Ryo leans against the kitchen counter, starting to think a bit more. "I mean..I was in a void myself too. Didn't hear anything say my name though. But there was something there. It was just a pair of eyes with pupils that looked like it tripped a few more balls than it needed."

Akira just simply chuckles nervously. "I don't know whether I wanted to see that or the hulking devil guy I saw myself...Did it say anything though?"

Ryo nods. "It wasn't anything I knew about though. It just kept saying- assuming it was the eyes, it said that 'the time has come' and 'we must not waste more time'. You know, the standard freaky stuff."

"I...See." Akira looked down at the table. Then he looks back up at Ryo. "So, you fully convinced me that these things are demons...What do we do now?"

Ryo's eyes got way too excited at the question. He was more than glad Akira asked. "In my research, I have reason to believe that demons can possess humans. They likely can't live for long on their own, but are still plenty of powerful. Strength in exchange for a lifespan that'd put mosquitoes to shame. But!" Ryo puts up a finger, getting a bit more crazier looking. "They seek to possess humans because they can get a longer lifespan, and a powerful boost on top of it! Think about it Akira...Millions upon millions of years of evolution, yet humans are the one who changed the least in the 200,000 years we've been on this goddamn planet. We only learned how to use tools better."

Akira simply frowns at Ryo's talk. "Well I don't know Ryo..Evolution is a lot more complex than that. It's a much more gradual thing instead of something that hits one night-"

"-Akira, what I'm trying to get at evolution is supposed to make something more oriented for the harsh environment it's in." Ryo unceremoniously interrupted Akira. "Demons are the key for evolution! But every human that was possessed by one thus far has acted feral. They were too weak-willed to accept this is the next step! You and I Akira? We're special. We're not like the others. Even MIKI has a chance at this evolution. We can let a demon possess us, and we will gain their amazing powers in exchange! We got strong wills, our bodies are young and firm as young and firm can be!"

"Ryo, you're confusing me...What exactly drove you to this conclusion?" Akira's question gave him a glare from Ryo. It caused him to recoil a bit out of concern for his old friend.

"My father's recent expedition to the Antarctic regions. His accomplice came back with him a few hours after I dropped you and Miki off. They were both planning to research the mask my father returned home with...But as both of them entered, something just...Snapped for his partner. For the record, I mean that literally. Bones were snapping like twigs as his body shaped itself into something horrible. He and father were in a power struggle against each other, oblivious to me being awake. I listened in as I watched, and I heard Greyson talking about how he's trying to fight it. Then he just...Collapsed. He begged for father to put him out of his misery afterwards, all the while spasticly moving about. That's when father had the idea to burn him like he was a fleshy bonfire. Akira, Greyson was old. Out of shape. Nowhere near fit enough to use that power well. His capabilities of talking through the possession is evidence enough that we could have the potential to fully resist the demon's control."

"So Akira..." Ryo desperately grabbed onto Akira's shoulders. "Do you understand now? We have what it take to turn fate against the demons. People are dying and or being possessed as we speak. We can't let this chance go to waste!"

Silence filled the kitchen once Ryo said all he needed. Akira had a look of both confusion, fear, and concern. Then Akira spoke finally. "Ryo...I won't deny, everything you said sounded ridiculous. Even if I fully saw everything, I have a hard time believing it." Akira patted Ryo's hands to gesture him to let go.

"But," Akira stood up and approached a window. "Everything I heard. Between the news, the attack from this morning, and the Earthquake from the night before...Well, I think it's safe to say that everything's coming up to that. I feel like the more things keep up, I have a chance at dying. So..." Akira turned to Ryo. "Taking into consideration everything you told me...I think I want to take that chance." Akira nodded firmly. "Yeah...I want to at least try. I don't want to die with nothing to show for my effort to at least try to do the right thing!"

Just then, Ryo smiled. Not one with arrogance, but a genuine smile. "That's the spirit, Akira! You're not much of an invertebrate after all, are you?" The blonde approached the front door of his house with Akira not too far behind him. "If we're going to harness the power of a demon, we have to go somewhere where demons are most likely to hang out. And lucky for both of us, I know just the place!" Ryo's excitement was suddenly curbed by the ground they're standing on shaking. Nothing like the earthquake from last night though, it was far shorter. It was as though something enormous was making its way through the district.

Nothing could prepare either Ryo or Akira for something bursting out of the ground behind them. A humanoid composed of tentacles protruding out of every possible orifice. Akira gasped in horror while Ryo stepped back. "That's definitely our cue to make a break for it!" Ryo leaped onto the hood of the car and slid into the barely open window. Akira hurrying to open and close the door of the Ferrari as Ryo didn't waste any more time driving off. The tentacle demon, despite its large shape and extreme weight caught up with the car and latched its tentacles onto the vehicle. Giving Akira a view of the suction cups and Ryo snarling in response. Ryo caught Akira by surprise by firing a shotgun at the tentacles, causing it to let go. But the victory wouldn't last long as more demons started to claw at the roof of the car. Large bird-like talons poking through the top.

"Ahh, shit. That's gonna make dad angry..." Ryo sighs. "Just hold on tight, Akira! This ride is gonna get a bit too bumpy!"

"I gathered as much!" Akira quipped back, ducking his head from the talons. The demon causes the top to rip off with the help of the tentacled demon, causing the car to careen to a nearby building. Ryo however was ready despite the crash, and fired at the bird-like demon in its abdomen-mouth which was just open. The resulting blood spilled on Ryo's face, causing him to grow a wide grin for just a moment, not that Akira could notice it immediately.

"What are you waiting for!?" Ryo snapped out of his trance-like joy by shouting at Akira. "Haul ass out of here!" Akira reacts by kicking open the car door. The demons chasing them went from two to about seven quickly. Akira followed Ryo into a questionable building, only made even more questionable by Ryo getting down and opening a door on the ground. "I don't have any time to explain. But this is exactly where I want us to be!" Ryo tugs it open with all his strength, jumping in with Akira. The erratic chase finally came to an end as the grotesque groans from the demons were muffled on the other side. The banging made the duo step lower and lower until they could hear the demons no more from either getting too far below, or the creatures giving up. Either way, the sounds were replaced by something else...It sounded like..Music? They approached the source of the sound and Akira was greeted with a sight; men and women alike partying as though there's no tomorrow. Getting drunk, doing various drugs, and barely wearing any clothes if they were wearing any to begin with.

"Uh..Ryo? Is..this a go-go club?" For a moment when light shined on Ryo, he gave a nod and a smirk of confirmation. Akira simply blinks, then bursts out laughing. "Ohh! I get it! This is one of your crap for brains jokes! Did your dad give you the budget for this prank because man, you got me good! The one with the tentacle, the one that tore the roof of the Ferrari off, you probably took a red Ferrari out of a junkyard and replaced the top with a much weaker top, haha! That was a good one!" Akira continues laughing, all the while Ryo just simply has a stern stare. Not even so much of a subtle crack or a smile. "Haha...You're- you're not laughing...This is the part where you laugh Ryo..." His uproarious laughter trailed off as his face returned to a much more worried one.

"If this were a joke, I'd crack a whole lot more sooner." Ryo sat comfortably at a couch. "The only thing I find funny about this is all these worthless fools. I made sure to find and pick the most sinful, horrible, sack of shit place I could find. Demons can possess animals and other things because they have no sense of will or right and wrong. They're only creatures that run on their instincts. But Akira, this is the 21st century. Humans like this are far more common then they were centuries ago. That's why demons possessing humans were such rare cases in the 40s and beyond." Ryo gestures a hand pointing at everyone at the rave. "Look at them. They don't care or have any decency. The only thing that remotely comes close to a semblance of care is their own pleasures to where it's all they can even think about anymore. Demons live for that! Yet...Something is still missing." Ryo hunches down as he holds his chin in thought. "I can't put my finger on what it is..."

"Well...It at least explains why it was only the dinosaurs they possessed in that vision." Akira turns back at the party. Akira would argue against the lack of will and care but..Ryo's kind of got a point and Akira was seeing it in front of him. Everywhere he turns was someone drinking, smoking, snorting up cocaine, or straight up having sex with someone in the party. Nowhere he could look without seeing at least two of those things straight ahead.

"I'll be sure to get back to you if I find that something...Just run along and, I don't know, join them. Remember, we're here to become demons." Ryo pulls out a small cigarette and begins smoking with it. "Not that they can get me easily...This is laced with drugs." The blonde gestures to his cigarette in his hand with a smile. "I can't feel a thing..."

"Like hell I'm gonna do any of these things Ryo! This is crazy, I'm not gonna--!" Suddenly Akira was basically tackled by a party goer. A young lady at least four years older than him.

"Heyyy cutieeee!" The girl giggled adorably. "You're looking pretty cute! Why don't you come on and dance with meee~?" In the embrace she has with Akira, she drags him along while smothering herself against his neck.

"Waah!? Ryo! Help meee!" The last thing Akira saw of Ryo was him staring at him dead in the eyes before the sea of the party goers blocked him out. Looks like he's on his own. "..Can we at least do something tame miss? I'm not interested in any of these things..."

"Ohh, but you will be soon~" She cooed. "Everyone has their first time, nothing to be ashamed of!" Not giving Akira any time to react, the girl shoves a bottle in Akira's mouth, making him drink the liquor.

The party went on normally despite the intrusion of Akira and Ryo. It got to a point where Akira lost his shirt in a power struggle with that same woman who was hooked onto him at the moment. Eventually Akira just gave in and danced with her, rocking out to the music. Suddenly Akira found himself having fun, something he personally didn't expect. But his joy was interrupted by a scream of a woman. Looking in the direction where he heard it, Akira saw Ryo holding a woman against his arm. When he lets go, the woman's body squirts with blood from a wound caused by a broken bottle. "Ryo! What the hell?!"

"THAT'S what I've been missing! Demons love pain and senseless violence!" The suddenly psychotic Ryo turns at the surrounding crowd who looks at him in horror. "Hey! Everybody!" Ryo tosses the bottle in the air, catching it in his hand. "Who wants to bathe this party with their blood!?" Ryo lunges himself at the crowd, slashing at them with the bottle. Making the party-goers go from a lukewarm pacifism to wanting to attack Ryo. For understandable reasons frankly.

"Wait- wai-wai-wait! He's had too much to drink! He doesn't know what he's doing, I swear!" Akira fought through the crowd, and before he knew it, Ryo was the one being attacked now, covering his bleeding nose as he got kicked in the stomach.

"Hey now, it's your boyfriend's fault! He started this!" Said one of the party-goers. "Or do you wanna join him?" The man who spoke to Akira immediately punched him in the face. The recoil caused Akira to back into someone else, who kicked him on the back. Now Akira and Ryo were together a bloodied mess. The ones who retaliated began laughing at the sight. As far as they were concerned, they made the party even better with kicking the snot out of Akira and Ryo.

The music fell silent and one of the women partying stopped laughing. Her laughter was shortly replaced by a groan of pain. She suddenly got taller, and her eye became the end of a slender- disgusting looking appendage. It wasn't just her, but everyone else either bulked up, slimmed down abnormally, or just straight up exploded into becoming demons, looking far more horrific than the ones outside. Akira and Ryo regained their senses, and once they realized what was happening, they both got in a prepared stance.

"Get ready Akira! The demons are here! Don't let them take advantage of your mind!" Both Akira and Ryo stand firmly, looking at the various creatures in front of them...Nothing was happening. The two looked at each other waiting for something. Nothing. "..Akira? Are you feeling anything?"

"No, nothing! Absolutely zippo..." Akira shook his head.

Ryo then groaned disapprovingly. "Then _somehow_ we fucked up!"

"Crap! Ryo!? What are we gonna do?" Akira's voice sounded more fearful than ever. The guy was understandably scared for his life.

Ryo tried to think of something...It seems as though they were backed into a corner. "Dammit..." He muttered to himself. Ryo was so hopeful this plan would work, and nothing came out of it. Only their untimely death. "There's only one thing we can do Akira; Run."

The two separated as the demons rushed towards them, Ryo being backed into a wall surrounded by various demons. But strangely enough...None of them seemed to be attacking him. They just...Stared at him. Whenever he raised a hand, they flinched. Ryo didn't care about it and just pulled out a gun while shouting "STAY AWAY!!!" firing at all of them. The bullets did nothing to them as the ones here possessed far thicker skin, but every one of them backed up in fear, as though they did something wrong.

Meanwhile with Akira. Akira was running for his life. He truly felt like he was about to die. He felt so hopeless, this was it. Nothing would come out of it, he would just be another dead body among the pile...That's when it all hit him. Suddenly, Akira was spiked with a pain surging his entire body. It was so strong that it caused him to scream in pain like he never has before. Despite the overwhelming agony, he didn't fall over. He just..Stood there. Every demon in the area turned to look at him, waiting for something to happen.

"Heh..Heh heh heh...." Akira chuckled darkly as his pupils began glowing. Any shred of fear he felt at the moment was replaced with a hunger for blood. He turned to the demons, a wide grin growing on his face as his teeth became sharp. Akira's hair began waving as though it was blowing in the wind, solidifying into a bat-like shape. His forearms exploded with razor-sharp appendages, with claws forming from his nails. His face became more angular and his body also became more muscular and having scar-like marking running down his shoulders. Whatever this was, it wasn't Akira anymore in terms of looks. Before any demon could react to the sight, 'Akira' roared as he reached out and grabbed a demon's head, before pulling it off and crushing it like a walnut. The feeling of blood in his hand only caused him to laugh maniacally.

"Amon! What are you doing!?" A demon called out in confusion. "You're harming one of us!"

"Amon..? That's his name? Heh heh heh..." He laughed once again. "Amon isn't here anymore. But that's the least of your worries. Get used to this face, demons. It'll be the last thing you see, I promise you!"

Another demon stepped back in realization. "Amon...His body and mind has been taken over by the human!"

'Akira' bared his bloodied claw, a devilishly grim smirk growing on his face. "Speaking of bodies..There isn't going to be any of yours left by sunrise!" He rushed forward and attacked the demons. Any demon that attempted to attack him would only meet a bloody fate by either his punches, claws, or even just his hands as he mutilated every demon, forcing them to fall one by one, their numbers lessening as the initially velvet room became red with every demon's blood.

"What...What did I do?" Ryo huddled up against the wall he was backed up to in fear. He watched the rogue demon tear apart the others. "It's Akira that turned into that but..Is it still him anywhere in there? He would already faint or puke at the carnage." Ryo kept watching the sight. It was too horrific, but he couldn't avert his eyes. It was like a plane crashing, and he just couldn't look away as horrible as it was. "No...I wonder, in trying to make a demon fight other demons, did I end up creating the worst one among them? Please god, don't make me another Victor Frankenstein."

The demons that surrounded Ryo would end up becoming more pools of blood in the unholy sabbath. In the midst of the chaos, Ryo almost didn't notice a black serpent-like figure approach him and went into his mouth. The shock of it caused him to fall and collapse. He didn't feel injured or in any sort of pain, just...surprised. Unable to move.

The rogue beast didn't acknowledge Ryo, and just kept tearing apart the demons surrounding him and trying to attack him to no avail. He continued basking in the rampage, and just kept going until there was to be nothing left for him to slaughter. He kept (literally) tearing the demons apart, laughing wildly while doing so until the break of dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 5. Things are starting to get **real** spicy now. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next week!


	6. What am I?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything went black last night. Akira vaguely recalls the events, which leads to some concerns not just about who he is, but _what_ he is.

At the crack of dawn, things seemed relatively peaceful, unless you go into the cellar door for the rave. Inside, the floors were coated in the blood of demons. Standing above the pool was Akira, who miraculously transfigured back. Though he looked much different. He had more defined muscles, what looked like eyeliner, and his hair was more ratty and curly. As he transformed back, he heard a cough. "Ryo? Ryo!" It was like he blacked out, but he still remembered when they seperated. Though everything after that is hazy. "Ryo! Are you okay?" He lifted up the corpses of the demons, finding Ryo. Who thankfully seems unharmed.

Ryo coughs once more, but gives an assuring nod paired with a smirk. "I'm fine. But you though...Are you okay?"

Akira nods. "Good here too." Akira lifted up Ryo, surprising himself with his own strength as he basically threw Ryo over his shoulders. He doesn't express it out loud, but internally he's just saying 'whoa...' He climbs up the stairs leading up to the door they came in from. A few slams and Akira manages to burst it open. First thing he does is toss Ryo onto the floor above and then climbs up the rest of the way. "So..I really fused with a demon, huh?"

Ryo picks himself up, dusting off his coat. "I'll say. You definitely look different though." He waves his hand as Akira tries to approach him. "Ah- ah..Don't worry about me. I can walk home from here. Pretty sure dad's freaking about me. You can take care of yourself." With that, Ryo dismisses himself and walks towards his house. Akira followed his example and went the opposite way. Akira was pleasantly surprised seeing that his parents were still asleep given that as he slowly cracked the door to his house open, he didn't see either of them waiting or looking at him. Akira takes advantage of this and sneaks to his room as quiet as he possibly can. When finally inside, he lays on his bed just as the sun shines in his room and sleeps before he knew it. Akira could only mutter one thing as he drifted off. "Thank god it's the weekend..."

Meanwhile, Ryo was long asleep when he returned home. Possibly the best sleep he's had in ever. Though the resulting dream was anything but pleasant, he found himself on a scorched version of town. Houses were in a blaze, trees scorched until they couldn't stand anymore, and demons were among the wreckage. The demons who weren't causing the chaos, were at Ryo's feet, praising and bowing to him. Then up in the sky, Ryo saw those pair of eyes that were staring at him in the void when he wore the demonic mask. Though now he could see it more clearly on the body they were on, and he wished he didn't see it. It was like a woman's head- with no body, covered entirely by her own scarlet hair. She had arms and legs, not that the being had any use for them as she flew with ease. To top it all off, she had a wide grin that stretched from "ear" to "ear"

"So, master...How did the sabbath go?" The entity asked, her mouth not moving in the slightest, speaking to Ryo via a psychic link.

"..Master?" Ryo's look of confusion became far more justified. The demon floated down in front of him as though he had asked the dumbest question in the world. "This is the second time you called me that...What's the big idea?"

"So you remembered my eyes, do you? At least you proved you're capable of having memories..." She only smiled wider after the quip. "As I told you before, everything will come to you. Just like now; after you went to that sabbath with that foolish boy, your power began slowly returning to you as we speak. You will remember everything master, and this vision you're seeing before you is only a composition of that desire you have locked in the back of your head. We will see each other again until then...We will complete our goal of complete global annihilation."

"Wait- what?" Ryo approached her just as she began floating up towards the sky. "We're missing some context here you decapitated word salad!" Before he could get any more answers from the demon, he woke up in his bed as though nothing had happened. The first thing Ryo did was run to the window, looking out and seeing police sirens gathered around his house- thankfully not for any trouble, but investigating the hole caused by the demon from last night...Ryo had to close his window curtains considering that he just realized he considered that a bright side. This entire demon fiasco was getting even weirder despite his efforts with Akira, which made him realize the only good thing that can come out of this was Akira's demonic powers.

Over in the Fudo Residence, given the timing of Akira slumping over on his bed, Akira woke up well into the afternoon. Taking a look around his room, he couldn't help but wonder, was all that chaos a dream? Getting out of his bed, he looks at a full body mirror..He looked far more mature now. Muscular, eyeliner, and even a bit taller. Heck, he even felt a bit more confident than usual.

"Akira..?" His mother knocked on the door. "Are you fine in there? You haven't left your room this entire time...Your father and I want to know if you're okay in there."

"Uhh! Don't worry mom. I'm good! In fact..." Akira couldn't help but admire his body. "Never been better." He stretches his arms over his head to wake himself up just a bit. "Sleep did wonders on the body and mind!"

"..As long as our boy is doing good in there, that's all your dad and I care about." Kaori was about to head off until she heard Akira speak up again.

"Hey, mom! If you don't mind me asking, did you make me anything for...Breakfast?"

"Sadly no," The woman answered. "Neither me or your dad knew when you were going to wake up, so we figured you could take care of that yourself. No offense."

Akira simply chuckles. "None taken. But I was actually thinking of gathering Miki and Ryo and heading out to eat, if that's okay with you." His mother took a few beats to think. Understandably her reason being that she's concerned over Akira heading out in times where demons are roaming about.

"As long as you're not too far away. There's that cafe down the block that Ryo nearly crashed into one morning. But that's about as far as I'll allow you to go."

Akira looked out the window to see what cafe she was talking about. It was a simple donut shop. If Akira had a problem with the limit on how far he could go, his only option gave him less reasons to complain. He shrugs and gives his mother an assuring and confident "Okay." But now Akira had a problem he hadn't taken into consideration...Save for his pants, most of his clothes don't fit him anymore. The only thing he can wear that's not too tight of a fit is the T-Shirt he's wearing currently, but he knows he wouldn't be caught dead wearing just that. But unfortunately, Akira had to settle with wearing a simple overcoat. Though it's not too bad of an option seeing how it's somewhat cold today. Yeah, he can settle with this. Before he heads out of the door though, he takes a moment to call the two. Thankfully they were both available, despite the touch of reluctance in Ryo of all people, making Akira just a bit confused. But he didn't mind it for now.

Downstairs, Reijiro was drinking coffee, still trying to fit that loose bolt on the pantry. He heard footsteps of who he knows is Akira, but when he turns to see his son, Akira slid down the railing for the stairs, catching both Reijiro and Kaori by surprise. "Goodness me...Did puberty hit you finally, or what?" He gives Akira a confident pat on the back as his son approaches him.

"Yeah, you could say that." Akira smiled. "Oh! By the way, dad...I wanna head out for brunch with Ryo and Miki. Would it be okay if I have a few bucks on me?"

"He intends on going to the Go Donuts. Right Akira?" Kaori gave Akira a stare, entirely expecting him to say so.

"Yeah- totally." Akira nods, his mother returning a smile at the notion. That caused his father to pull out a wallet and hand Akira roughly 60 bucks.

"There. You should be able to buy something good for all three of you." He tapped the money into his jacket pocket. "Depending on what they feel like having, of course." With that, Akira did the usual thanks before heading out the door to ride on the motorcycle again. "Heh..He's definitely a teenager now ain't he?" Reijiro asked, turning to his wife.

Akira gathered up with his friends, taking his motorcycle again to drive up to the shop seeing that they were expecting him. Miki was honestly taken back seeing Akira today, he looked different and she noticed it. His confidence was at a high level on top of it, going from looking rather meek to easily being the toughest looking one of the three. Of course, Akira was still himself as he gave both Miki and Ryo a cheerful greeting.

Miki was inclined to ask her friend just what happened to him. But she felt it would've been intrusive, so she held back on that. At least, for a time. Even if she was about to ask him, her train of thought derailed as a waiter came up to ask the three what'd they like. Akira ordered a eclair, Miki asked for a glazed donut, and Ryo wanted a jelly-filled donut. The three conversed like usual, until Miki's eyes expressed concern and confusion as she looked at Akira's hand. "Uhh...Akira?"

"Huh?" He looked back at Miki, his daydreaming state being interrupted.

"No offense but..." Miki continued. "You're scratching up the table." She pointed down at his hand.

Akira was confused for a second himself. He looks down at his hand, seeing that in the time he was rubbing his fingers on the table, he literally clawed 4 slash marks across repeatedly. "Uhh- I..What in the?" Looking at his hand, he saw his nails were way too sharp. Miki pursed her lips and Ryo simply raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know I- Oh, geez..." It caused him to back up from his chair, taken aback. Unfortunately Akira backed up into someone who was eating a eclair themselves. Midbite, they coated their entire face with frosting. To top it off, it had to be Henry. Something Akira didn't realize until he turned around and his shirt collar got snagged by Henry's livid hand. "Oh no..." Was the only thing Akira could mutter.

"You think you're really funny, huh Fudo!?" Henry growled, baring a fist at Akira.

"Wait- Henry! Calm down, it was just an accident!" Miki immediately tried to diffuse the situation, all the while everyone in the cafe was staring at the two young men. "Akira didn't mean it! He was just surprised by it is all."

"I'd be surprised too if I had my jaw dislocated. Your boyfriend can't do you any knife saving here." Henry throws Akira away to throw a punch at him. But then everyone was surprised by Akira almost effortlessly blocking the punch, making the entire cafe go "Ooooh!"

"Listen, Henry. I didn't want any trouble." Akira nonchalantly states. "I just wanted an eclair is all."

"Yeah, I'll bet you do, after you messed up my face with one..." Henry pulled his hand back, then throwing another punch, Akira quickly dodged it, making everyone gasp in surprise. They were getting way into the fight unfolding. Even Ryo, who had a big amused smile on his face, which vanished when Miki tapped his shoulder.

"Ryo, help him!" Miki exclaimed. Henry threw another punch at Akira, who reacted this time by grabbing his wrist and tossing him to his left, causing him to lose balance for a moment. Even Ryo was surprised at the maneuver he can't help but chuckle nervously.

"Which one..?" He looks at Miki for a moment then back at Akira and Henry.

Akira approaches the dazed Henry for a moment, growing a bit of a smirk on his face. "So, Henry? Quick question, what's your favorite kind of house?" The question caused Henry to go from surprised to just straight up confused. He squinted and had an eyebrow raised, with a face that read him going 'what?'. But Akira turns and kicks Henry in the face, sending him flying across the cafe, making everyone else look at Henry in surprise. "Mine's a roadhouse."

"Okay...That does it." A voice spoke up. "That was a good fight and all, but I don't tolerate violence in my cafe." An older gentleman came bolting out from behind the counters. He picks up Henry then guides the trio out of the cafe.

"M-Mr. Nagai, he started it." Akira tried pleading for a moment, though it fell on deaf ears as they were all shoved out. Henry's immediate reaction was to back far away from Akira though once he could move on his own.

"I don't care who started it, I'm ending it." The manager of the place then slammed the doors, leaving the trio alone now since Henry literally ran off.

"Akira..." Miki broke the silence. "What WAS that!?"

"Oh! Uh..." Akira tried to explain. It was an impossible task though, as he kept fumbling over his words. "I- I just felt really motivated waking up this morning."

Ryo then perked in. "Yeah, I'm not going to lie...That was pretty cool." Ryo played along, acting as though he didn't know about last night. Honestly Akira knew that was a wise move on his part.

Akira then looked off in a direction. "Mind if I take a moment? I kind of need some..alone time." He ran off, leaving Miki and Ryo alone now. They just simply stared at each other, then back at where they last saw Akira before he turned a corner. Leaning up against a wall, Akira took a moment to reflect. "Okay...Last night was not a dream- I know that, good." He rests a hand on his head. It was a lot to take in especially as he concluded. "..So that means I got some demon powers. That's 'nice' I guess..." Memories were starting to come back now. He was remembering everything he could, and a part of him wished he didn't.

But then Akira came to a conclusion. He felt nothing malicious...Save for a bit of a confidence boost, but that does more wonders for his self-esteem if anything. So in a sense, Ryo's plan came through, and he was now...Something. He didn't know what to call himself, but a human infused with a demon while an accurate term doesn't roll off the tongue. Terms can be whipped up later. For now, Akira tried to think what he was granted last night.

"You're going to have to try a little harder than that to reach me you damn demons!" Akira heard his voice at the back of his head as he recalled last night. He remembered saying that, but the context was what was bothering him. He remembers jumping and then...Flying. Akira reaches behind him, feeling some very subtle intents running along his back. Would it be a problem to test it out, he wondered.

He climbed up a ladder, making his way towards a roof to get a good starting place to test out flying. Nothing too high, but nothing low enough to where someone would notice. In case he falls, he has a bunch of garbage bags he can land in to cushion the fall...Though cleaning his clothes will be a bitch if he fails at this. Which yeah, he isn't going to deny is likely. Just to make it easier on himself, he took off his shirt and jacket because he knew that the wings would tear it asunder. Akira took a deep breath, concentrating and then...

SWISH!

"Oooh, ho ho ho!" Akira's excitement complimented the bat-like wings that sprouted from his back. It confirms that yep he was remembering correctly, but now; how was he going to fly? He gulped in realization of that, he honestly wasn't expecting to get this far. He steps back a lengthy distance to get a running start. "Please, don't let this end with me falling flat..." He begged to himself. Then Akira started sprinting, getting off the ground every few moments as his wings began flapping.

He approached the edge of the building and lept off. Before he knew it, he was flying! His wings were flapping with plenty of strength, keeping him in the air. "Oohhh yeah!" Akira cheered happily. He got the hang of how to fly quickly. It felt like swimming, just putting more effort on the shoulders though in order to keep himself up in the air. He was getting the hang of it and his nervousness over flying vanished soon enough. He was impressed he managed to get over the fear of looking down so quickly. Looking forward though, that's when he made a mistake, Akira was greeted with the back of a large billboard. "Wa-HEY!" He yelped as he somehow managed to maneuver around it and land on the building supporting the billboard in the first place. Although Akira did nick something as he started to descend, but he was too proud of himself to acknowledge it. He smirks as he flexes his wings. "Not a bad way to get started flying..." Just when he was starting to get arrogant, he heard metal groaning and looked up. That's when he saw a good dose of irony, a giant can attached to a red bull billboard. 'Red bull gives you wings' was the last thing Akira saw as he was cartoonishly crushed under the can. Though he manages to lift it off of him safe and sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 6. Akira got payback on Henry and takes flight for the first time! Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next time.


	7. Hero of Justice: Earth's Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories of last night begin to truly return. Akira recalls that he was able to change his form, and realizes he could really control his powers. Thus beginning the legacy of...Earth's Demon.

Akira plucked his body out of the billboard to rest on the building below. Just to both get his bearings and to get lost in thought once again. More memories were starting to return of last night...Didn't he transform? He was entirely confident he did. The next question was, could he do it again more willingly?

"Uhh....." Akira tossed his hands to the side with open hands. "Demon powers, activate!" He closed his eyes tightly waiting to feel something...There was nothing. He opened his eyes, nothing. So he tries again. "I call upon you, monster guy!" He shouts, this time throwing his hands into the air. Again, nothing happened. Akira blinks now, with furrowed brows. He tries again, this time tensing his body all over. He heard muscles stretching and bones popping as his body grew slightly and bulked up. Surprisingly he felt nothing despite having his entire body changed in a short amount of time. It doesn't matter, he's transformed now. Looking into an adjacent window to look at his reflection, he definitely changed. He feels around his head, examining the crest his hair morphed into, the strange scar-markings running down his pecs, and of course, the furry lower body. Now that Akira wasn't in a blacking out state and could see what he was, he was trying to determine WHAT he was.

"..Wait a second." Akira's eyes widened in revelation. "I can be this...thing, and have my mind intact. I don't exclusively gotta fight demons, do I?" Yeah, Akira knew he was talking to himself. But honestly, he didn't know who else to ask immediately, and he certainly didn't feel like flying to Ryo or especially Miki to get a second opinion. "Yeah..Who's going to disagree with me using these powers to fight for general good?" It was that one question that would change Akira's life forever. He stares with determination in his eyes at his own reflection, every fiber of his being was more than happy to follow through with this. He was confident he would have the power to do everything in his power to end this invasion of demons.

First things first though, Akira doesn't transform back, but his 'brows' extend into tendrils and grab his cellphone. it was only when he had the phone in his hand did he realize using it was going to be a problem...As embarrassing and amusing as it may have looked, Akira sat down and rested the phone on the ground, and did everything as carefully as he could without breaking it or stabbing it with his claws. Thankfully he managed to call his mother and the phone on speaker so that he didn't need to be up close to it. "Akira?" His mother asked over the other line.

"Hiya mom." Man, if now was a good time to be grateful that the transformation didn't alter his voice, this would be it. "Umm...I'm gonna be coming home late. I just need to run some errands- Nothing bad happened!" He assured his mother. "I just wanted to- you know, run around the block a few times. Sightsee, and all that jazz." He nervously chuckles.

Kaori just simply murmurs in thought. She considers for a moment but answers with just a simple, "As long as you get home safe, I have no issue."

"Awesome..." Akira smiles a bit, looking rather intimidating on his current form. "I'll be a while though. But I will come back, I can assure you that!" The two gave their usual farewells and 'I love yous' before she hung up. "Okay, now..." Now that that was settled, Akira didn't feel as bad being this...thing fighting whatever comes his way. That's another thing actually, Akira actually realized he should come up with a name. Inevitably people are going to see their savior being this demon and it's likely sooner or later they're going to ask what his name is. He paced around on the roof now, thinking of a variety of names. "Dante? No..." He shook his head and continued pacing. "Jersey Devil?" Akira groaned and shook his head a bit. "It's good but, ehh...I can't see me being called that...'' He sits in deep thought then suddenly, he hears an alarm go off far away. No doubt a calling card for him to take action now.

Akira leapt off his feet and began flying once he got a jumping start. Though he tried being careful just for the sake of what happened a few minutes ago to not happen again. Akira's excitement for something well...exciting was short-lived. He even tilted his head and rolled his eyes. "A jewelry shop robbery? Really?" He leaps down closer to the entrance, but far from the windows just to stay hidden and listen in on what's going on. Yep, it was definitely a robbery. Ah well..He had to start somewhere.

"Alright now...We're gonna take these delicate-looking jewels...and no one is gonna get hurt, okay? Less you want things to get ugly." One of the thugs said with a smirk. There were two in total and they managed to overpower a poor worker.

"Go ahead and call the cops!" The other says with an equally prideful smirk, as both of them slowly inched towards the door, a bag full of gems in one hand, and a gun in the other for each. Then they made the horrible mistake of stepping outside. "They'll learn a thing or two for messing with the P--" The sentence was interrupted by a yell coming from above. Both of them look up and what do they see other than Akira getting the drop on them- literally. The employee for the jewelry shop's first instinct was to call the police, watching the sight of a demon beating down the thugs.

"Ahha!" The clerk says, though his exclamation wasn't one that was hopeful, just fearful. On one hand, it was hilarious seeing the two get their comeuppance. But on the other, "I knew the demons were coming for me next! I can't get a break this time of year, can I?!" Akira's beating on the thugs ended with him conking their heads together to knock them out. But now the worker was surprised, as this demon reached the bags and threw them back at him.

"You can thank me later you know...I got other places to be. Just give me a holler if these two buffoons think about showing up." With a two fingered gesture, Akira gave the man a farewell as he grew his wings and flew off into the sky.

Not even 30 minutes passed, and already the incident had news headlines and other gossip. Talking about how a monster came in out of nowhere and stopped a robbery as quickly as he appeared. Akira even returned to the scene of the crime and listened in. "..ould you say it looked like? Are you also even sure it was a demon?" A news reporter was assaulting the very same employee relating to this 'rogue demon'.

"I'm telling you sir," he responded. "He just came in out of nowhere, beat those two up and flew away with huge bat wings!"

"Did it say anything? Perhaps on wherever he was going so that we have a chance of tracing the creature's location?"

"Well-- no..." The worker says with a bit of disappointment. "He just said he had other places to be, gave me a peace sign and that's when he flew off..."

The reporter just stares blankly at the entrance of the Jewelry shop, seeing the two thugs get loaded up onto a van. "In case he shows up again, do try your hardest to call us, we'll be back to scoop a picture of that creature if we're lucky." Akira was almost tempted to drop in to introduce himself, but everything else was convincing him otherwise. Instead he just flies back off into the opposite direction, where his ears heard a explosion followed by a yell. Now THAT was something he could get excited from.

Meanwhile, at the Makimura Residence

After Akira's scuffle, Miki just simply returned home. Though every bit of her grew concerned over Akira. She can't help but wonder what happened to him both after he ran off, and what led his appearance to change so drastically. Not that she had an opportunity to think about this out loud.

"In a world where many are hungry," Miki's father, Kozo Makimura began. Her mother, Akiko joined in not too long after. "may we eat this food with humble hearts." Miki and her younger brother, Taro didn't say much. They just prayed in silence. "In a world where many are lonely, may we share this friendship with joyful hearts." Once the family finished, they quickly began eating. Especially Taro who savagely ate away at the first piece of meat he saw on his plate. Though Miki, just simply stares at her food, fiddling with her fork.

"Miki?" Akiko was the first to take notice of the somber young lady. "You look rather down...You haven't touched your food. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume you're purposely about to let Taro get an instant second helping!"

"You know, that's not a bad idea!" Taro's face brightened at the statement. "Do you think you can let me have it, Miki!?" He turned to his older sister with a wide smile.

Miki simply chuckled and lightly flicked him on the nose. "You're not even halfway done with your plate silly! Besides, I am hungry...Just a lot of stuff on the mind that's ruining my appetite..."

"Oh..Understandable." Kozo simply nods. "These are rather dark times, aren't they? Increasing reports of monsters possessing humans. It sounds like something out of a horror movie. Here's to hoping we're not mislabeled due to our religious nature..."

In the midst of dinner, the television in the adjacent room automatically turns to the news. "We're live on yet another sighting! The block we're currently in is currently coated in giant webs, along with several spiders with glowing red eyes." A Newscaster spoke, a camera pointed right at them. But their look towards the camera suddenly turns to the sky. "Hold on- I'm getting something. It looks like yet another creature." The camera turns to look up, showing a figure with bat-wings flying onto the scene. Little did anyone expect, the being fired a beam of super intense heat at the webs, causing it all to burn. Sure enough, the demon was Akira.

"Amon, you traitor!" A face speaking through the burns emerged from the webs. "Our lords told us everything about you, losing your consciousness to a filthy human!"

"Did they also tell you that Amon is busy eating shit in hell right now?!" Akira responded. "You can call me..." Akira raised a finger proudly to exclaim his name for the world to hear...That's when he realized, he probably should've had a name to keep his normal identity a secret. Whoops. He already began the spiel, he had to go through with it now. "Earth Demon..." He said reluctantly. It was the best he got, so he just firmly stood up, pointing at the web-based demon. "Yeah! You can call me The Earth Demon!"

"Whoa...." Taro started, slack jawed at the winged demon on the television. "He looks SO COOL!!!"

Miki subtly shoots a glare at Taro in the midst of his awe. "You would..." Just then, Taro turns to Miki once more, pointing at the screen while retaining a stare.

"Hey come on Miki! Look at that guy and tell me he doesn't look cool!" After a brief moment of silence, Miki just starts eating finally. "Yeah, that's what I thought..."

"Children, please."Akiko looks at her two children with a look of disapproval. A mother's stare was enough to defuse the situation, letting Taro and Miki resume eating. Or at the very least, let Miki continue eating while Taro continues looking at the heroic Earth Demon.

Throughout the week, Akira (or Earth Demon) kept fighting. His actions kept not just the entire town, but the entire state of New Jersey safe from demon attacks. The numbers dwindling less and less. In most cases, Akira literally flew into the scene, confronted the demon, and vanished with little to no scars on his body. The more he kept the heroic act, the more he became more notable. News headlines started to flood the internet;

"Earth Demon. Who is he? WHAT is he?"

"Another demon attack...Only to be stopped by the Earth Demon"

"Christmas saved by the Earth Demon!"

Soon enough, as the fame started to build up, not one person could go outside without seeing Akira as The Earth Demon whether it'd be in person, or the various posters. He was even approached for interviews several times, just for him to fly away before anyone could get too close or invasive.

Meanwhile in the Himalayas, in the caves of Mount Everest. Another demon slept along with several more demons that had yet to be awoken. Until now. It's figure was largely feminine, and resembled the most human out of any demon thus far. The only thing that prevented her from looking human truly was the slightly elongated face, along with the bird-like talons for hands and feet. The snow white tail feathers and even the wings on her head made her look more like a harpie if anything.

"Silene...Awaken." A menacing voice spoke to the demon in the frozen slumber. "The destruction of humankind has started, but another one of us is delaying that which is inevitable..." Just like that, the demon named Silene broke out of the ice, letting out a screech that sounded like a combination of a large bird and a woman screaming. She looked around, not at all put off at her location. If anything, as far as she knew, this cave she had been frozen in hasn't changed in the countless years she's been stuck.

"Right, Lord Satan...Whatever it may be, I'll stop them before they slaughter us all. This time, I'll do it on my own. Nothing or no one to prevent me from using my full potential..." Her wings spread open, getting ready to take flight. "I've waited in that foolish block of ice for far too long to let this be taken away from us so unceremoniously by our own kind..." She burst through the rocks and mountain she resided in, her eyes scanning the horizon as two appendages along her forehead began waving around as though she was searching for something. Then electricity started to form, detecting a strong energy coming from the west. She grew a grin before saying "There you are..." Just like that, Silene flew off at a blinding speed. She refused to let it bother her for now, but the energy of what she picked up felt familiar...Could it be..? No, she shook her head at the notion and just kept flying, reaching the sea in only a few minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 7. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next time!


	8. The Demon Bird vs. The Earth's Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira really starts to master his abilities and things start to become a bit more normal again. Of course, that's when things start to go from bad to worse, as trouble truly starts to brew in more ways than one.

In the Asuka Mansion, Ryo was long asleep after watching television- specifically seeing Akira in action as Earth's Demon...As weird of a name choice that is, Ryo doesn't judge or dwell on it too much before he comfortably conks out...Straight into the strangest dream. He couldn't see himself, but he knew he was in a cavern. Telling something- or someone to wake up from the ice. An explosion happened afterwards and before he knew it, he was conscious again. He instinctively went back to sleep, or at least attempted to until he heard his room door creak open. But he immediately assumed it was his father checking up on him, which actually was the correct assumption. Though for different reasons. He felt a weight on his body, then before he knew it; a knife stabbed through his blanket! Ryo reacted in time by using the blanket to push against his father. "D-Dad!?" The two were engaged in a struggle. One that ultimately Ryo ended up winning by using all of his strength to shove his father off. "What's the matter!? What's going on? What's with the knife?!" He had so many questions, and he just wanted to sleep.

"You...You're pure evil." His father answered. Now that Ryo had a good look at him, he could see his father had crazier hair than usual. Ryo had every reason to be concerned now. "You must be stopped here and now! You'll kill every one of us!" The incessant rambling confused Ryo. Hiro raised the knife again and tried to stab Ryo once more, missing and stabbing the wall behind him.

"Dad- listen! If it's about the car, I'm sorry! But we're a rich family, we can get another one just like it! Look, I'll even help you pay back--" His reasoning fell on deaf ears as the older man kept trying to stab Ryo. the only thing he managed to do though was actually scratch up his shirt. The two had yet another struggle. "Father, **_STOP!!!"_** Ryo shouted as loud as he could- involuntarily generating a shockwave that took the entire area, also encompassing the entire room with pure light. Despite it being a violent burst of...whatever that was, it was eerily silent as though nothing had happened. But nothing pleasant could be said for Hiro who covered his eyes from the blinding light, though that was the least of his worries as that was the last thing he could see before he felt a pressure and heat surrounding his body, as though hundreds of suns were colliding with him at the same time...

Despite it being akin to a demon's powers, Akira neither heard or sensed it. Though that can partially be blamed as he was spending time with Miki, sitting on a park bench, watching the sunset. "Kind of a bummer Ryo couldn't be here..." Akira says with a bit of a sigh.

"Yeah..." The brunette rests her head on the palm of her hand. "Buut..What about you though?" Miki turned to Akira. "You ran away from Nagai's cafe after we got the boot and not gonna lie, me and Ryo were kind of worried for you after that."

"Huh?" Akira looked at Miki, then at his hand. He forgot about that fiasco despite it being only a few days ago. "Oh, yeah, totally. Kind of felt a really bad cake in my back that I was really adamant about getting rid of..."

"Oh..." Miki wasn't fully convinced, as identified by her squint. She simply shakes her head dismissively with a simple, "Whatever." But she stares at Akira's abdomen curiously. Then scans his back. "..Is it still there?"

"What?" Akira blinked.

"That cake in your back. Is it still there? I could massage it out, you know." Miki cracks her knuckles, not waiting for an answer from Akira as she stood up from the bench and got behind Akira. "Now you get to see why they call me Miki 'The Hands' Makimura." She rested her palms on Akira's shoulders and began rubbing them. "Ohh- gosh..! Akira, you're so stressed it basically feels like there's a literal knot under your skin."

Akira approvingly groaned at the massage. After all his efforts as Earth's Demon, he had no idea how much he needed one now. "Well you know me...I'm not considered one of the best in our class for no reason~" He was getting so relaxed at the sensation, he was involuntarily tapping his foot. Instinctively, Miki looked to see if he was doing some madness again, like creating a crater. Thankfully nothing like him scratching up the table was happening again.

"I'll say, but Akira, I do think you shouldn't stress yourself over school this much...I haven't seen you all that relaxed for the last few days...I kind of understand why, creatures attacking and whatnot. But the last thing I need is plucking gray hairs off of you...At least I'm putting you at ease with this, right?"

"Ohh yeah...Definitely~" He was giving half his attention from how relaxed he was. Miki still took it as an answer though, despite how out of it Akira was. Though that couldn't last long as something hit Akira's senses. He could hear something from not too far away- it sounded like a bird flapping...A really big bird. He knew this was a demon because there was no way a bird that big could fly just from the noise it was producing. The startling part of it all was just how strong this demon was. From what his senses were telling him, this might be a demon on par with himself.

"Say, Akira..." Miki spoke up, completely unaware of the imminent threat. "Do you still read comic books- who am I kidding." Miki snorted, interrupting herself. "You totally do."

"Yeah, what kind of friend are you if you had to think about that?" Akira laughs with her. He was entirely aware the entire reason she was asking was because of a comic book store across the street in front of both of them. Miki figured he was relaxed enough, so she left him alone to his own devices. Thankfully that gave Akira enough time to himself to sense out that demon. Yeah, it was way too strong and it was only getting closer. Akira already knew that it was coming right for him, and so he ran off to transform into his demon form.

Miki approached a young man at the counter of the aforementioned store. "I'm just browsing- don't worry!" The worker just nods nonchalantly, reading a comic book of his own. Miki simply scans the various covers to see what catches her eyes the most. For a brief moment, she was briefly attracted to a cover of a manga, which displayed a young man with white hair and red gi, wielding a giant sword. She briefly considered getting that one, but she still looked around for any more that might catch her eye.

"What is that..?" Miki hears someone ask that, but doesn't address it, until she hears another person ask it...Then another one. Next thing she knew, over a dozen people were looking up at the sky curiously at something. The comic book thing is gonna have to wait as Miki runs out to look. Her morbid curiosity got the better of her as she looked at the sky, seeing something white, also resembling a bird. Then it just stops and vanishes- not as though it flies behind something, but fades out of existence for a moment. Now everyone were starting to be more worried than they already were. Then the ground below them started to rumble.

The people- including Miki already started to panic and dispersed from each other. A smart move as the second all of them were fully scattered, there was a huge explosion that pushed everyone away. Though it was far from over as the ones unlucky enough from being scattered even farther from the explosion were quickly swooped up by a large talon. "A-Ahh!" Miki covered her ears and head as a natural response. She was scared to keep her eyes open, not that it would change much as she felt something close around her body. It felt bird-like and she knew exactly what it was. The size difference between Miki and Silene wasn't something to laugh at, as the harpy demon dwarfed the brunette.

"You're the thing one of my own chose to defend..? I don't know if I should be impressed by your survival, or disappointed it's over someone so meek." The feminine demon grimaced at Miki, lifting her to eye level. Just then, Silene hears someone say 'Earth's Demon is here!'. That caused Silene to lower her prey for a moment as she sensed that demon she was sent to kill approaching and approaching fast. Before she could react, she was punched in the face by Akira's fist, causing her to get launched into the side of a building and dropping Miki as a result. Of course, Akira was quick to fly and rescue Miki before she could hit the ground.

"Are you alright Makimura..?" Akira held Miki close, covering her with his wings in case Silene tried to get an attack on both of them.

"I-I'm fine...You're Earth's Demon though..."

"Just find somewhere far away and safe...This is going to get ugly." Akira knew now wasn't a time for Miki to know who he was, or what he was. He only landed one punch and he already knew Silene was going to present a problem. Putting her down, Akira let her run off as he stared up at Silene, the latter of which was just staring at him. Not with any sort of fury or ready for combat. It was as though she was familiar with him.

"Amon..." She says under her breath. Despite being a demon, she seemed not as bloodthirsty as one. For once, Silene was feeling emotions, seeing an old friend- someone she admired. She didn't even seem angry that this 'Amon' fused with Akira and ended up losing his consciousness. "You're called Earth's Demon, aren't you? I want you to fight me with all you got..! Don't you dare hold back on me."

Once more this Amon was mentioned by a demon. Akira knew Silene from memories of Amon after they merged. "You were waiting for a true battle with Amon, weren't you?" Akira felt empathy for the demon now. A strange time to feel it, though right now, both weren't feeling any somber. "I have nothing else to do but provide it, won't I?" Both Akira and Silene bared their fists and flew at each other and clashed claws at each other, creating a shockwave that was so powerful it caused craters to appear on the buildings surrounding them. Pushing away from each other, Akira follows up with breathing fire. It only barely singed Silene, not damaging her in the slightest. The demon bird flew at Akira with an arm stretched out to claw at him, missing him just as much as his breath of fire did, only just barely scratching his jawline. Akira then counters by grabbing at her forearm and breaking it- unintentionally severing the talon-like forearm from her.

That was only the beginning. Silene smirked with a toothy grin as the severed arm began spinning in Akira's grip. Before Akira could register what was happening, it spun out of his hand and became a buzzsaw. "Heheheh...You weren't prepared for that, were you Earth Demon?" The arm returned to Silene's arm with a bone snapping sound to accompany it being put back into place. "I assure you, there's more where that came from."

"Don't get cocky now..You're not the only one full of surprises you know." In the literal blink of an eye, Akira vanished. He then appeared behind Silene and delivered a kick to her sides, causing her to get launched. While she was careening through the air, she uses her antenna to latch onto Akira's horn, dragging him along for the ride. "G-GWAAHHH!!!" A surge of electricity was sent to Akira via Silene's antenna. It was a simple jolt at first, but then his entire body was surging with visible blue electricity. Trying to fight through the pain, Akira concentrated and fired a beam of energy out of his forehead, cutting a bit of Silene's wings off. That alone was enough to cause her to let go of Akira.

The battle between Akira and Silene went on for what seemed like hours. Which wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Not that time was much of a concern as the two were more focused on who would land a killing blow first. Soon enough, the fight took them over a building with numerous lights shining. Akira tried to take Silene away as he was entirely aware there could be people in there, the loud sounds coming from it gave Akira the idea that it was a concert, but her strength managed to overpower Akira, crashing both of them into the stadium. Predictably, this caused everything to stop, even the band currently playing.

"Whoa- what is that?"

"Is that the Earth Demon?"

"Is he fighting that other monster?"

Among the various questions as Silene has Akira pinned down, Akira forces himself up, jamming one of the points on his forearms into her neck. However, the thing that really confused Akira was the music starting up, from the heavy drums and guitars. Were they really going to pretend like this wasn't happening or did they simply not notice the demon fighting the harpy? Oh well... The two flew out of the hole they created, trading blows once more. Silene returned the favor of the blood dripping from her neck by telekinetically lifting some of the class from the stadium and throwing it to Akira, who simply shatters and dispurses the glass with his wings. The moment Akira flew forward and decked Silene, causing her to fly back, that's when Akira heard the music blaring from the stadium, distracting him for a brief moment.

_"Devilman, devilman! calling, Devilman! running my head, yeah!"_

_"Devilman, devilman! calling, Devilman! running my head, yeah!"_

Akira stared down at the stadium, seeing various fireworks accompanying the singer. Was he calling him Devilman? If Akira is going to be honest...He kind of liked the name. It was quick, and rolled off the tongue better than Earth's Demon. Akira doesn't have time to fully compliment the new name, as Silene rushed to him and attempted to slash him with her claws.

"You really are using Amon's power well, Earth's Demon...I applaud you. Though you can't rely on his raw power forever..." Silene gave Akira a sneer, both complimenting him and judging him.

"You can drop the 'Earth's Demon' name now you know. You can call me, Devilman!" Akira shouted the name with pride. Oh yeah, he definitely loves the sound of it. Silene meanwhile can't help but blink confusingly. Then shaking her head.

"Bah...I don't care if it's Earth's Demon, Demon Lord, or Devilman. It's all the same to me. You're just prey for me to slaughter like a hawk to a rabbit..." Akira and Silene clashed into each other once again. They were going to ensure only one of them were going to leave, the anger and fury in both their eyes made sure of it. Once more, Silene fired her arm like a missile towards Akira. "I don't intend to miss this time..!" As the arm flew to Akira, it started to spin vertically. While it was more likely to miss, it was far quicker than before. Akira takes note of it and dodges it as fast as he could. That's when Silene goes in to attack Akira directly, all the while her arm flies around them, occasionally swinging in to disembowel Akira.

Akira sensed it approaching behind and ducked at the last second, letting the saw of an arm fly towards Silene. "..What do you take me for." is what Silene would say before she lifts a leg up and kicks her arm downard, right at Akira's arm.

**SCHING!**

"AHH!!!" Akira screamed as loud as he possibly could at the moment as the arm sliced through his own. He looks down and sees it falling far below. "Okay..Seeing how you can fight well with just one arm on your person..I suppose this evens the playing field a little bit." Akira grabs at where his arm just was, seeing blood ooze out of the wound caused him to wince and feel a bit more nauseous.

"Yes, but unlike you Devilman, I have the luxury of letting my arm be a weapon. You're only a few pounds lighter."

It was at that moment Akira smirked. A weak one, but still a smirk regardless. "Exactly. You just took a bit of weight off of me!" Akira flew forward and kicked Silene on the chest. Doing a flip in the air, Akira aims down and fires a beam at Silene once more, causing her to fall to the ground at high speeds. Concentrating, Akira teleports onto the ground below Silene to catch her with his hand. Akira was acting like the speed advantage was the only thing he was taking away from this. In reality, he was getting weaker by the second. Having a huge bloody stump where your arm once was would do that to you.

"U-Ugh..." Silene couldn't feel her legs thanks to Akira. All she could do was fly and retreat. Death was fast approaching her and she didn't feel like dying just yet. "I..I can't die here. Lord Zennon is still frozen...I was...Hoping this would go in my favor."

"So you admit your loss, huh Silene?"

"..I didn't say anything about losing." Silene had one final trick. If this wouldn't kill Devilman, she can at least retreat and fly off before he can land that inevitable finishing blow. Lifting a finger up, the glass on the nearby buildings started to shake, the ground below them starting to rumble.

Akira looked around, being surrounded by a ring of light that turned into a sphere of fire. "What in the-!?"

Silene lifts herself up, preparing to fly to get away from something big. "We'll meet again, Devilman..." Closing her hand completely, a large explosion completely took the entire area. The last thing Silene saw was Akira being completely black for a fraction of a second like a shadow, so she knew he didn't teleport out of there. In case he did survive, which she doesn't rule out, she quickly flew off in a random direction.

"Kwah!" Akira cried out, forcing rubble off of him. Jumping out, he scans the horizon, the skies, everywhere he could look or sense. Silene was gone. He couldn't do much about it. Even if he could, he knew he didn't have the proper stamina to keep fighting. As much as he survived that surprise explosion, he didn't have much left in him. His body even reflects it by reverting him back to normal Akira. Sighing, Akira rests a hand on his head. "I've been doing this for a week..And I already need a vacation..." Akira walked around the destroyed town aimlessly before he fell to the ground with a loud thud...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 8. Sorry if the fight with Silene was so short, and trust me, there's a reason why there's no Kaim. Also, Akira _finally_ took on the moniker of "Devilman". But anyway, feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next time!


	9. Not a pretty sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle with Silene and christening himself as "Devilman" from now on, Ryo brings up to Akira that he needs his attention. But something else needs Akira's attention.

In the night during Akira's battle with Silene, a team of fighter jets were sent out to investigate a strange anomaly. "General Utsugi? Oshiba Hawk, and Sosuke Torpedo? Do you copy?" The trio in unison answer 'roger'. Coming out to investigate, they can only conclude it was from Earth's Demon- who only recently chose to christen himself as 'Devilman'.

"General Utsugi," a leading officer spoke over a communicator. "If that demon, Devilman is in those skies. Don't be afraid to fire at him."

The pilot can't help but turn his head confusingly. "But isn't he fighting for us though?"

The commander doesn't respond for a moment, though that doesn't stop his immediate answer. "We can't risk it. He's way too powerful of a creature and could easily turn on us at the drop of a hat. Don't take that risk and take him down."

"Yes sir." There was a brief moment of hesitation from Ustugi as he activates a pair of heat seeking missiles to lock onto Devilman the moment he shows up. Suddenly, Oshiba came onto the line, a bit of a concern in his voice.

"We are picking up an unidentified object, at 3 o' clock." The fighter jets turn as they scan the horizon, seeing something resembling the moon, though a lack of detail and was radiating a brighter light. "What the hell is that...?" As though it noticed them, the light zoomed towards the one who identified it, and fired a blast of energy that was as big as a basketball, but obliterated the jet with a lack of effort. The last thing Oshiba could mutter out was "Oh God, no-!" before the jet, including himself, were vaporized.

"Man down, man down!" Utsugi activated the radio once more. A terrible mistake as every electrical appliance in the surrounding radius of this strange light would be corrupted, ear-piercing technical jargon. The last two soldiers though did get a view of the...thing as it flew at them at incredible speed. They could make out what looked like a man with at least six angelic wings. He had blonde hair and despite the clear masculine face they could barely make out, it also looked rather effeminate. The sexual identity was the least of their worries as whatever it was, it was fast, powerful, and most intimidating of all- seem to take great pride in the destruction it caused. The two remaining fighter jets flew around the..thing, and took aim. Firing two missiles that exploded on contact. They had no way of knowing for sure if they got it as for some odd reason, it wasn't showing up on radar. They found out soon enough as the angel emerged from the fire and smoke with the same amount of blinding speed as before, completely shrugging off the attack! It chuckled maniacally, landing on Sosuke's jet to essentially rip him out of the cockpit, then turned the man inside out and crumpling him into a ball of flesh by an invisible force. Seeing that the general was the only one left, the figure turned to him, with a smile so devilishly evil it sent waves of chills on the sole survivor. A title that wouldn't last for long.

Pulling Utsugi out with yet another invisible force, he finally spoke. "The world will drown in a river of blood...Judgement befalls on all of man starting today. The apocalypse is nigh my dear friend..." With a twitch of his head, he broke the remaining soldier's neck with his powers. Realizing the soldier was done for, the figure hovered off the jet and watched it crash into a body of water nearby. In that same moment, he looked down suspiciously and muttered. "Akira..."

The next morning...

"GWAHHH!!!" Akira woke up shouting. He couldn't tell if he woke up from a nightmare he could barely remember, or he just remembered Silene. Coincidentally at that moment, "..My arm." Looking down, he saw he had both arms intact. Somehow. But Akira didn't question it instead shouting with an elated "MY ARM!" He examines his left arm, even flexing and creating a fist with his hand just to make sure if it was really real. There wasn't even any signs of damage from Silene cutting it off. He started to wonder again, was that a dream? His suspicions were quickly disproven by his active T.V.

"..Authorities are still investigating a strange crater found where a local town last was. People are speculating it was a demon attack, but others aren't disproving the fact that it might be a nuclear attack by another nation." Akira cocked his head to the side before turning to fully face the television, listening to the news. "To make matters worse; a fighter jet was found on the coast of New Jersey, severe damage applied to it. This was one of three fighter jets that were sent out to scout the skies of last night after..Devilman, the new name for the Earth's Demon was seen fighting a bird-like monster. Instead, the entire squad was destroyed by something- or someone. The other jet was found, with blood completely coating the cockpit."

Akira was starting to get tired of the news and just turned off his T.V. with an annoyed face. But that's when he realized..."Oh crap, Miki!" He went from lazing around initially to practically jumping out of the bed and rushing on his usual clothes. Just to get rid of the lack of clothing. Pulling his phone out his pants pocket, he texted Miki.

>Akira.Fudo: Hey Miki! Sorry for seemingly vanishing last night. I just hope you're okay.  
>Mikimouse: Oh hey Akira  
>Mikimouse: No don't worry, I'm perfectly fine.  
>Mikimouse: Where'd you run off to though?

Oh. Akira should've figured she'd ask that. He takes a few moments to think up something that wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't him being honest either.

>   
> >Akira.Fudo: You know Devilman?  
> >Mikimouse: How could I not? lol  
> >Mikimouse: Already got used to his new name I see.  
> >Akira.Fudo: They're calling him that already?  
> >Akira.Fudo: Damn they work fast.  
> >Mikimouse: That's usually what happens when a band like White Zombie names something like him that tho  
> >Mikimouse: Soooo  
> >Akira.Fudo: Yeah I got kind of a bat signal thing with him going. We're actually really close, believe it or not.  
> >Mikimouse: What about him?  
> >Mikimouse: Oh  
> >Mikimouse: That's actually really cool! Didn't know you guys were pals!  
> >Mikimouse: Is that why he came to my rescue so quickly?  
> >Akira.Fudo: Pretty much, yeah  
> >Akira.Fudo: But anyways, just wanted to make sure you were safe. That's all I really wanted to hit you up for.  
> >Mikimouse: Well I appreciate it haha  
> >Mikimouse: Me and my family are actually getting ready for a trip to a fair actually  
> >Mikimouse: Just thought I'd let you know since if you tried calling our house phone in a few days we probably won't pick up  
> >Mikimouse: So, see ya!  
> >Akira.Fudo: Yeah, see ya  
> 

Akira lets out a relieved sigh as he rests on his bed. Not tired, just feeling good for once in a while. Just then, he hears a distant scream...Uh oh. Just as he starts to instinctively get up, that one scream turned into several screams. Yep. That don't sound good. Akira knew it was the calling card of yet another demon attack, so he buckles himself together and bolts out of his room and towards the front door.

"Hey- whoa, whoa! Akira Fudo, where's the fire!?" In the middle of him running, he heard his father calling to him, making him come to a screeching halt.

"I-Uh...Just going to do some emergency grocery shopping. You know, we're running low on eggs and cranberries..." Mentally, Akira crosses his fingers hoping they would fall for it.

"I never heard you be so desperate over cranberries..." His mother suddenly joined in on the conversation. "If you were, how come you didn't ask for an allowance again, hm?"

Akira looks around awkwardly. He had to come up with a good explanation and fast. "Uh...Well, to be honest, remember how last night a demon attacked town and Devilman fought him? Well, I wanted to make sure Miki is okay." Reijiro and Kaori just simply eye each other and then eye back at Akira.

"If it was such a big deal, it'd be faster to call her, you know." Darn. Akira just shuffles in place awkwardly. "You know, Akira..." Kaori started. "I feel like we need to talk...Preferably now."

Akira had a furrowed brow, glancing at his parents. "It- it can wait later. I'm not going anywhere."

"Ehh, I beg to differ." His father interrupted before Akira could continue. "You got an attitude lately, you've been ignoring us more other than when you need to run errands like this, you make weird noises at night sometimes. Heck, what's this I'm hearing about you fighting in cafe--"

"I didn't start that fight! I just bumped into Henry and he got mad at me." Akira was starting to get snappy, and his parents, while seeing it, didn't react strongly.

"Regardless," His mother resumed the conversation. "Certainly didn't make the owner happy. Now Akira, I'm not saying your independence is a problem. In fact, I'm more than happy to see that my boy is becoming a man. But you can't keep secrets from us when you used to be such an open boy. Your father and I went through the same thing you went through--"

"Mom..." Akira interrupted. "I don't think you went through exactly what I'm going through. This is a lot more than just simply 'growing up' to me. I feel like I found my place in life and I want to express that to the fullest! If anything, I feel like I'm being held back." That's all it took to hit his parents. They didn't show it other than a slight twist in their expression, but the silence did a good enough job in telling Akira that he really must've hit something. With a bit of a heavy sigh, Akira took back his outburst. "I'm sorry. I-"

"No no. It's fine." Reijiro spoke. Any motivation to continue speaking was lost on both of them. "You're- you're right. Just, go visit Miki and do what you need to do. We weren't trying to stop you."

Akira glances at his parents once more, looking down with a bit of a guilty conscience as he rushes out the door. Just then, he hears his phone ringing, seeing Ryo call him. He doesn't waste time answering. "Yeah?"

"Hey, Akira." Ryo answered with that familiar voice. "How's your night so far?"

Akira gives a mostly drained, "Eh." as his answer.

"Ooh. I know that response. But hey, listen Akira." Ryo began. "I won't hold you for too long since I know you're a busy Devilman- yeah I heard the name change. But, if you can. Maybe swoop on by. I don't have much time to explain but, I just need you to be here as soon as you can. Please." That emphasis on his last words worried Akira. Ryo hardly showed his emotions, much less on a caliber like that. Akira figured this really must've been important. He tries to take it one step at a time though, so he went out to deal with the distant cries first and foremost. It would take less time than Ryo.

When Akira arrives on the scene, he's mortified by what he saw. He saw bodies litered around the streets. "Shoot...Was I too late?" Akira looked around for the demon that caused this, but he didn't find anything. The bodies laying about had brutal things happen to him. Some were burned, some's faces were crushed by cinder blocks, others were skinned, or some were outright dismembered. The silence made him feel uneasy until he heard the sound of a torch igniting behind him. First it was one, then it was twelve.

"There he is..! The one above the demons himself!" One voice shouted.

"Huh..!?" Akira looks back to see who spoke, but he was met with a molotov that shattered on his side and started to burn. At that very moment, Akira pieced together what happened. These lunatics caused it. They weren't demons in the slightest. Just deranged psychopaths. Did the fear of demons get to these poor souls? Akira couldn't be sure, but it's a very likely theory. Despite that, Akira didn't feel it in his being to kill them. These were people! "Listen- we might've gotten off on the wrong foot. I don't feel any desire to kill any of you at all." He tried to speak despite the rampant attacks. From bricks to knives to molotovs. "You're all acting out on your fears rather than waiting for an answer!"

"We have every reason to believe those we kill are demons." Another part of the mob spoke. "If they assume their true form, it'll be too late!"

Akira would've asked who told them that...Yet something in him was telling him 'it's Ryo'. Akira shielded himself from another brick as he began approaching the mob to try to reason with them further. But they suddenly started backing up out of fear. "You acted so tough...But the moment I move an inch, you guys look at me as though I planned on hurting you." Little did Akira know, they weren't being scared of Devilman, they were being scared of what's behind him. Akira had no idea, even when they started running. That is, until Akira heard the sound of concrete being pushed out of the way. A few of the corpses started to return to life, no doubt merged with demons. Though it's unclear if they were already merged before death or they just now found their hosts. Hell, maybe they were even still alive. Either way, Akira's reaction was one of someone who started to get used to it. "..I don't know if I should be surprised, or not."

Some looking more elongated and uncanny, but a majority looking far different- being bulkier and built like large animals with vague human features. By which they had their host's face on their body somewhere and that being the only thing that remained of their host. One of the now resurrected people growled at Akira and started to rush at him. Akira reacts by dodging and countering by grabbing the demon's arm and tossing him into a nearby building. The sheer velocity was enough to kill them probably, so he follows up by going after another demon, jumping on their back due to their quadrupedal appearance. Grabbing onto its horns, Akira doesn't attempt to ride it, but instead pulls as hard as he can on the horns, causing the demon to arch back hard enough to split open. Another demon down, and another demon comes in. This was starting to feel reminiscent of the flood of demons that were in the sabbath, so Akira met every demon here with equal amounts of prejudice.

Despite Akira's primal love for battle, he was starting to feel drained. Even once rain started and made him feel cooler from the sheer heat of the battle, he still felt exhausted. After slaughtering various demons, Akira looked at his hand curiously and saw his claws beginning to dull back into his normal human hands. He knew he had to finish this soon, so he uses a bit of his energy to release a beam that blasts through a couple of demons. The rest, Akira simply pounds into the ground or tears apart. Now standing among a new batch of corpses, Akira pants and asked, "Are you all done!?" Then right on cue, Akira hears another scream. Goddammit, he thought. But this was different..This was Miki's scream. What was she doing out here, he thought. A shopping center was nearby. Was she simply getting something to hold her over for that family trip she mentioned? Akira closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Whatever mad god there is, please give me the energy for this..."

Meanwhile...

"Get her!" A male voice shouted in the streets. Miki didn't stop running, whenever she looked back she saw a mob gaining up on her with fire, pitchforks, and knifes in hands. Didn't take a moron to figure out what this meant for her. "Burn her, shred her, get that witch!"

"Please, no!" Miki shouted as she felt them getting closer. Despite being a fantastic runner, she felt her stamina draining by the second. "Stop..!" She shouted in her labored breaths. Her running took her to another end of the mob, completely surrounding her from both sides. Every angle she was surrounded as the mob got close to her. One of them went full out overkill and out a chainsaw, aiming right for Miki's throat. She tried to back away from it, only to find dozens more people with various blades, from knives, swords, pitchforks, if it was sharp, they had it.

Then, Miki felt something grab her arm. Before she knew it, she was tossed into the air and landed a good distance away from them. For a moment she was dazed, but she heard what sounded like something- or someone landing in her previous place. It was much more clear due to the heavy rain making the landing sound more loud.

"Crap!" Said one of the lunatics. "It's Devilman again!"

"Don't worry, we can take him on!"

Akira growled. He may have been fighting constantly, but he's more than willing to put forth the energy to save his close friends. "You say I'm the monster..." Akira took one of the maniacs by their throat, snarling loudly. "Demon or not- I'm far more human than anyone of you will ever be...I don't slaughter for some inane satisfaction. I slaughter to deal with pigs like you..." Akira threw one of them to a streetlight, incapacitating them from the sheer impact.

It took just that for the rest of the mob to charge at Akira. Despite their overwhelming numbers, and Akira not being at the top of his game in terms of energy, he still took them out one by one. Even with the occasional hit they managed to get on him, he dished out twice the damage. Though what Akira didn't take into consideration was due to that horde of demons from earlier, his transformation was being erratic. One moment he's Devilman, the next he'd be regular Akira with the slashes running down his shoulders. Combine that with Miki seeing the fight from where she was, she could barely make out her friend. She kept quiet, but this was all such a surprise.

Akira eventually got to the last maniac, no longer Devilman at the moment, but he was still plenty powerful. "Now you listen here...You're lucky I held myself back on you, and your pals! It could've been such a really bloody mess that you're gonna be glad the rain is here to wash it all away..."

"..Akira?" Hearing those words caused Akira's anger to stop. It was Miki, he knew it was. The concern, confusion, and fear in her voice was obvious enough. Even to where he dropped the lunatic onto the ground. He then prepared to fly off to the sky, just to prevent Miki from knowing it was really him during the spur of the moment. Though it was far too late for that now. "You're..Devilman?" The thunder didn't help much, each strike made Miki get a good view of Akira as the demonic hero. Seeing Akira covered in blood- from the mob and his various wounds, it was something off putting. Terrifying as well of course, but that's a given.

"I..Really was hoping it wouldn't have come to this." Akira just about gave up keeping his form- not that he was consistently in it to begin with. "I was scared for you to see me-"

Miki then interrupted. "I'm..more scared that you lied about it. We're childhood friends and you just about told me and Ryo everything!" Just then, Miki's eyes widen as a realization hits her. "...Oh my god...So that's why you look so different. You became...One of them. At least assure me you can control it, Akira...And that you fighting against that bird lady and those guys weren't just luck."

Akira looked at Miki with complete confidence, resting a claw on her shoulder. "I can. Don't worry." No sign of lying as they gazed at each other. Miki broke the gaze as she looked down with a somber expression.

"..So you were scared to tell me..." She can't help but chuckle lightly. "Gee..do I really give the impression of being scared of literally everything?" She looks back up at Akira. "Ever since you stood up for yourself in that cafe, I kind of admired your confidence. I was tired of being looked at as a doormat, though I bet that's not why you became a demon, is it?"

Akira shakes his head. "Ryo came to me about a week ago, around when all of this started. He took me to his mansion and showed me...A lot of things needless to say." Akira then blinked...Ryo. "Oh! Ryo. Uh- Miki, sorry for leaving you in the dust but..I have to go. Ryo needs to see me for something important." Akira grew his demonic wings and flew off. Poor Miki just stared off confused and shocked, his leave was so abrupt.

"Akira...You really have changed."

As Akira flew off, he started to slow down suddenly, being bogged down by his mental exhaustion. Stopping on the edge of a building, Akira just starts to ask. "..How did my life get here? I'm a demon fighting against evil." Sounds like that fact finally sunk in for him. "It's a secret identity- all superhero like against my family and everyone else." He gets on his knees and just stares vacantly.

"So, there you go. That's just about all I have to say on the subject. Now you know who I am, what I am, and how I got here. Not a tale for the faint of heart, is it? But hey, when are most origins all sunshines and buttercups?" Akira was laying on the side of the roof, in a relaxed state despite being Devilman now. Seems like he was talking to himself this entire time, just to reflect how crazy these few days have gotten. "But hey, I'm surviving...Miki's surviving, mom and dad are surviving, even Ryo is surviving...As though that's impressive knowing him." Akira then positioned himself over the balcony of the building he rested himself on, wings spread out. He then just started laughing. "Now I'm talking to myself...Eh, maybe I'm just telling Amon that. At least give me the comfort of pretending like someone else is here. I suppose all that I can do is just look towards the future. Even if I'm afraid to know what's waiting for me, all I gotta do is face it..." Just then, Akira remembers, he had to see Ryo. He could only disassociate for so long before he ends up putting Ryo off for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 9. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next time!


	10. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After dealing with a handful of demons, psychopaths, and reflecting just how much everything went south over the last week or so, Akira arrived to Ryo's manor to see just what he wanted. It turns out to be something that Akira isn't too happy about.

Ryo opened the door and was greeted with Akira. He grew a patient smile seeing his friend. "There you are Akira..." Akira entered the mansion, Ryo locking the door behind both of them. "I take it you're here to take up my message."

"No kidding I did..." Akira glances at Ryo. "I came as fast as I could the moment you said it was something important."

Ryo looks down a bit, then back up at Akira with barely a change of his expression. Something that wouldn't accompany the bombshell he would drop. "It's my father Akira...He's dead." Ryo stares at the stairs of his house, already telling Akira he is feeling massive empathy for his friend, he was just waiting for a reaction.

"Wh-what!? Ryo- I'm..I'm so sorry." Akira's first instinct was to rush forward and hold Ryo's shoulder as an instant comfort method. "I..I can only imagine what's that doing to you." Akira no doubt wasn't raised by Mr. Asuka, but it's still an unimaginable pain he can only dream about feeling of losing a relative.

Ryo glanced at Akira's hand, then turned to look at Akira. "Imagine how it feels knowing who's the one responsible." Akira immediately took a defensive pose.

"..Is it a demon? Do you remember what it looked like? I promise you, I'll give it what it has coming to it!" Already, the notion caused Akira to morph into Devilman for a moment, though he doesn't transform fully. His hair is doing the flowing motion getting ready to shape itself into the horns and his body bulking up only slightly.

Ryo saw this and simply looked at Akira with a deadpan expression- one typical of him. "Follow me..." Putting his hands in his trench coat pockets, Ryo walks into the shadows of the manor, it was around this moment Akira noticed the various biblical pictures and crafts that align the wall. Akira (and Miki) frequently come here, so no doubt Akira knows the place inside and out. It was less the appearance of them and more the eerie aura they gave the halls. Opening a door, Akira was greeted with a rancid smell. One so bad he was close to barfing. "Here he is Akira- or..What's left of him rather."

Akira had to use all his willpower to not puke at the stench, and to stare at what was so important. Knowing it was Ryo's father made it all hit much more different if this was say- someone else. Inhaling, Akira stared at the horribly mangled corpse. He would not know it was Ryo's father had the blond not give him the heads up of who it was the moment he opened the door. To top off the sight, the fact he could identify the muscles led him to believe that either Ryo's father was skinned or turned inside out...Or both. "Oh-- Oh god..." It felt like he was looking at it for an eternity as opposed to a few seconds. His disgust turned to anger for Ryo, immediately transforming into Devilman."What killed him!? Where did it run off to? I'll smash it into pieces..."

Ryo remained silent, his expression not budging. Until he spoke with three words that hit Akira like a sharp harpoon made out of ice. "It was me." Of course, Akira immediately looked down at Ryo, confused. He walked over to the mangled mess that was his father. "You see, Akira...When I took you to the sabbath over a week ago. Something took a hold me too. I gained unfathomable powers that I wasn't even aware of until recently. The various dreams, nightmares, visions, you name them. It all led to this very moment. My dad attacked me last night, calling me pure evil. Which..was a poor mistake on his part, as I had an outburst of power that made him, well...That lump of meat down here."

"Ryo?" Akira squinted his eyes curiously. "You mean to tell me this whole time..You have the powers of a demon, and you never bothered telling me?"

"No. It's more complicated than that, Akira." Ryo turns to Akira, a grim smile on his face. "I'm neither human, or a demon. I'm something much grander..." It was at that moment, Akira noticed a light radiating off of Ryo. It wasn't like a flashlight beaming off his body- it was like his entire body was a human sized sun. "For you see Akira...I'm actually Satan..." Ryo rested his hand on his chest, as though it was a title of honor for him. "Everything hit me over the course of a week, and because of it, the extinction of mankind has to be taken into my own hands...What have they done for you to warrant you so desperately defending them, like a brittle wall? They'll never see you as anything beyond a demon...Like now..." Smirking, Ryo presses a button, revealing the room they were in to be exposed to the outside. Not just that, but they were both surrounded by various soldiers. Ryo meanwhile lost his sinister nature and replaced it with that of anger. "It was HIM," He points at Akira, successfully leading him into a trap. "He was the one that killed Hiro Asuka, my father!"

Akira covered his eyes from the then setting sun. But he could still make out the various guns pointed at him. "Wha..?!" Akira then felt something hit his hand. Looking down, he saw a tranquilizer dart. Once that first dart hit him. "N-No...You don't get it!" He was attempting to reason with everyone. But it fell on deaf ears, the moment he approached a soldier, everyone started firing. Various darts hit Akira- at first not working. But once over a dozen pierced his skin, the effects hit and hit immediately. His conscious was fading, and his words were slurring. "It was..him...He..." His vision blurred and darkened.

"Target is down." One of the soldiers said into a radio. "Load him on, we're taking him in." It took various soldiers to successfully lift the unconscious Devilman and throw him onto a cargo truck. Before Akira lost consciousness, Ryo approached him with a smile Akira had never seen on him before.

"I'm sorry Akira..." Ryo's expression went from a menacing grin to a smaller, empathetic one. "I know you're my friend. But you would never understand. You would stop me as opposed to helping me...This is the best outcome...For you of course."

"You-..." Akira had difficulty moving his head now. His words, while slurred, it was a miracle they didn't sound unintelligible. "Son of a..." And with that, Akira passes out as he's hauled off like an ensnared beast. Ryo meanwhile, just stares at Akira.

An immeasurable amount of time passed before Akira's vision began returning to him. All he saw was white, white, and more white. He put all his willpower into just moving his arm. The way he moved it across the ground, he realized he was just normal Akira. He didn't care about that, but was more concerned about where he was.

"To think, the 'legendary' Devilman not only revealed his true colors, but also he resides in a kid." Was the only thing Akira could hear that broke the silence. That was the wake up call he needed as his body jolted up. For better or for worse, that's when he realized there was at least something in the blank white room- a single window that barely reached eye level. Akira looked and saw a man in a white suit standing behind a window- no doubt really durable if he could just look at him like he was a newly captured animal in a zoo. "If we have you, maybe now those creatures won't be so confident without their leader."

"Leader?" Akira glared at the man, looking more confused than ever. "What makes you think I'm their leader? Besides the fact that I'm powerful? Plus...Did you never stop to pay attention that I'm _killing_ the demons?"

"Whether you're the leader or not, the fact that we have you now is good enough. Think of it as, if we don't get the queen chess piece of them, we at least have their nuke."

Akira tried to approach the window, but he was immediately pulled back into a metal capsule, covering his entire body. "Damn..." He growled. "But, look, just listen to me for once. I'm not the one you want. That blonde man, Ryo Asuka, 17 years old, brown coat, stripe sweater. He's the one you want. That man is literally the devil himself and you're letting him walk around scot-free!"

"Ryo Asuka? The son of that archeologist?" The Man in White simply stares at Akira, both having an intense glare for one another. "How can you prove that aside from claims? Has he done anything you can think of immediately?"

Akira was so ready to bring up something. But Ryo played his cards right...He couldn't think of much. Whatever Ryo could've done, he didn't witness it. All he could go off of was his irregular glow and Ryo outright claiming he's Satan. He was desperate, so he came out with that. "When I was in that trap room with him, he glowed in the dark...He told me he killed his father. Heck, he outright told me he was Satan."

"I see..Well, young man...I regret to inform you that unless you have something a bit more physical than words, we can't let you out here. We can only give a soft maybe until we see it ourselves-" Akira then suddenly slammed a fist against the glass, making cracks around where his hand clashed with the only barrier between him and the gentleman.

"You can't give soft maybes on these things! I'm telling you there's a threat right under your noses. I saved you people time and time again! Yet you'll put me in here for god knows how long, yet you're letting someone who can potentially slaughter millions- maybe more and do it again just walk around!?"

"Look, I'm going to have to ask you to calm dow-"

"No, _you_ calm down! I told you an issue, and all you can do is just walk around and wait for the end of the world instead of attempting to prevent it?! You're a bunch of frauds who like to look at your enemies rather than face them up front!" Akira snapped, but his anger only rewarded him with a shock that caused the entire room to light up.

"I think you might've misinterpreted me." The Man in White says coldly. "When I ask you to calm down, I don't mean you're getting too out of control. I ask you to calm down for saying too much in too little time. You claim to be a hero, I don't even consider myself one. I respect that. But you're also going to have to accept you're just a kid. Kids your age tend to get in a little over your head..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 10. I know and feel like these chapters are getting smaller. But I hope what happens in general make up for it. Feel free to comment any feedback. Thanks for reading and I'll be seeing you next time!


	11. Jailbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trapped in what could be concluded is a research facility, Akira sensed a pressure unlike anything he's ever felt. He had no reason to believe it wasn't Ryo with how strong it was. But before he can try to do anything about that, he had to get out. And **fast.**

Miles away rested Ryo. He was staring at a pond, admiring something about himself. But also coincidentally reflecting about the last few hours. He was starting to wonder, was there a better way to deal with Akira? "Master?" A familiar demon floated behind Ryo, the red haired disembodied head with limbs. "You seem..Troubled."

"I'm fine." Ryo mutters. "Psycho Jenny, I've remembered everything and then some. Countless years of being alive, spiritually and physically, in this forsaken universe...Yet, Akira..Makes me feel something. I feel..I can best describe it as 'empathy'?"

"Hm." The demon just makes a noise. Ryo, or Satan rather, was her master. Yet she did personally find his admiration for Akira just a bit foolish. "If he means so much to you, you can easily spare him. He is out of our way after all. If you let him off for too much, it can spell your doom. Remember, you're not at full power yet."

Ryo glanced down at his hands. Would he really have it in him to kill Akira? If he were to induce the mass extinction of mankind, he'd do it again. But Akira? It's something he's unsure of. He can't live with that isolation. All he had to do was wait and hope for the best out of all this. "..But it feels enough to get this all started." Ryo began taking his trench coat off, and just like that, light golden wings sprouted from his back, head, and ankles. While he himself radiated a blinding light. "Yes...I'm sure the genocide can begin now." Ryo began to smirk.

Akira felt something at that moment. Something was telling him it wasn't anything pretty. If it was a demon, it was the strongest damn demon he felt! "Yep..That's an assuring pressure." Akira says sarcastically as he starts to move around the room once more. That's when he got an idea. He just needed to transform at the right time..."Hey, old coot!" Akira slammed the glass to get the Man in White's attention, causing him to look up from a magazine.

"Oh, you're back on that struggle alr--" Akira started to make strange, silly faces. Clearly he was mocking him. He didn't react other than a slightly annoyed blink. "..A comedian, huh?" Akira just kept shouting and making his weird faces.

The man in white just presses a hidden button to activate the shock once more. Of course that caused Akira to jump back. But rather than get hurt- or show he's getting hurt, he powers through and continues mocking the man. "Come on, you gotta have more painful volts than that, grandpa!" Akira should be fried by now, so the man continues on it and amps up the shock. That's when Akira started to transform into Devilman. It was one thing that he was too determined to be fazed by the electricity, but what took the Man in White to be surprised at most, was that Akira's transformation was causing a reversal effect. The transformation caused the area to short circuit, as well as the metal capsule imprisoning him, setting him free just like that.

Grabbing a radio, the man in white calls for the cavalry. "Devilman has broken out! I repeat- Devilman has--" The glass containing Akira was suddenly broken, and the radio he was using shorted out.

"Oh my..." Akira jumps out of his prison as Devilman now. "Sounds like you're all out of phone calls. Now, about my way out..." Suddenly the man in white pulled out a stun baton and whacked Akira across the jaw with it. Akira shouted in pain as his head twisted around completely. Now annoyed, he held onto his head, and spun it back to its original position so nonchalantly. The man in white looks in disgust while Akira holds up a single finger. Then he started to wag it teasingly. "Ahh..Ahh..Ahh..." He figured it was best to leave him alone, not like the Man in White can do anything to him directly. Plus Akira doesn't have it in him to kill another human being. Even if he did, that'd probably actually warrant some unwanted attention. Akira rushes to the door and starts sniffing about, locking onto one area he was confident was the exit. Or at least somewhere nearby that led to it. "Okay...I have no reason to not believe whatever I just sensed was Ryo..." Akira ran through the entire facility while rambling to himself, just to collect his thoughts through all the alarms going off. "And I don't know what kind of tricks he has up his sleeves now that he's literally Satan...Just great." Akira arrived at the point he sniffed out. It wasn't the exit unfortunately, but he could sniff moisture in the air. He just had to look for that and he'll be home free. Assuming he found an exit and not a secret government aquarium...

As soon as Akira approached the doors, he realized he saw no signs of the military trying to get his head. Of course the moment he would've acknowledged it, he was greeted with hundreds of soldiers, aiming powerful firearms, tanks, fighter jets, and every other weapon conceivable that could do some damage to him. "You've nowhere to go, Devilman! Either surrender peacefully, or die like other demons before you!"

Akira's hopeful raised arms slacked to his sides in sheer disappointment and a bit of a loss for optimism. "You gotta be kidding me..." Akira knew he couldn't fly past all that without getting a nasty scratch on him. He had one more idea on him...He only hoped they weren't as much as numbskulls as they have been. If not, this is one heck of a pickle. "Look, we might've gotten off the wrong foot..."

Akira loosened himself up, reverting back to his normal form. For a moment, the army raised their guns, but their reaction when seeing Akira as a human surprised them. He was even sure he heard someone in the squad say "He's just a kid?" Hopefully that meant they were more willing to hear him out now.

"Alright..Listen. I'm Devilman, okay? I'm just a tyke like you said, alright? I'm a kid who got wrapped up in a huge war against demons that roamed the earth millions of years ago." Akira stepped forward. "But in a sense, isn't that what we built our foundation on? Sending innocent people to fight battles they had no reason to be a part of other than to extend a bloodshed over who started what? I'm tired of wearing the face of a murderer and just want to be the face of someone who..Just wants a normal world. Look at you guys, I'm sure none of you wanted to join the military out of your own free will. It was always either obligation or forcefully dragged into it. I'm not different. I've seen more blood than you can even fathom at age 17." Akira noticed them lowering their weapons. Finally, an actual positive reaction. He had to keep going, or else he was going to lose them. "You know that one song? Well..what is war good for? Is it just for some sick power trip? To kill someone just so that you can say you're right in the end? Is it really worth ruining millions of lives over any means? Granted, I'm not justifying whoever we go to war against, I'm not justifying any of us. People get hurt, even on the winning team. Even if you set me free, I don't even know if that's what we are against the demons. But dammit all, I'm trying to make sure nobody has to die, okay? Less you wanna go home to see your dead wife's head on a stick all because you're not sure who you wanna trust. Some fancy suited man behind the table, or the one actively trying to make the change."

Silence filled the field. It was only broken as one soldier's radio came on and the soldier spoke. "..Call off the attack, commander."

"What do you me--"

"Cut it!" The soldier put down the radio. Akira felt a weak smile grow on him. He trust that he got through. "..We won't tell nobody."

"So..Does that mean I'm free to go?" Akira blinked and looked around, seeing them all suddenly so vulnerable...He isn't going to lie, he wasn't expecting this to go as well as it did.

"We can't say anything about that yet." One of the soldiers spoke. "Just go. We'll keep you under surveillance. So just in case you decide to pull a fast one, we'll respond quicker than you can say 'why god'."

That was good enough. Akira spread his wings and flew out of the area as fast as he could. He saw none of them following him. He actually let out a relieved sigh again, but now he had to think. "Okay..Ryo is going to be doing some mad stuff- that's a no brainer. But if I was a loon like him...Where would I go?" Akira tried to think and realized something out of nowhere. "..Miki." Ryo probably has no interest in going after her specifically, but she can be easily wrapped in the crossfire and frankly, that's bad enough. He felt like he couldn't fly up there as Devilman and talk to her family. He'd probably get too much unwarranted attention from everyone, including her family freaking out more about him than what to be actually afraid of.

Minutes passed and Akira found his house. He flew into his window to grab his phone on a table, frantically typing Miki's phone number. He was desperate to know if she was okay and this was the most immediate way. He'd hate to cause a panic by flying as fast as possibly could. "Hey, Miki! I-"

"Hello, this is Miki Makimura! I'm probably busy right now, so leave a message~" Akira's heart was pounding out of his chest, something you wouldn't know as he spoke. He wanted to give as best of composure as he could.

"Uh- Hey Miki. It's me; Akira. Uh, some really terrible things are going on and just...Try to stay indoors and don't look out of any windows. If you can, try convincing your family to cancel your holiday vacation." Akira's face brightened up when he hears someone picking up the phone. "Miki!?" Of course, he assumed it. However, the voice he heard on the other line was the last thing he wanted to hear; A small deep chuckle from Ryo.

"Can Devilman come out to play..?" Was all he said.

Akira's face went from a somewhat fearful one to a cross between concern and anger. "..Where's Miki?"

Meanwhile, at the coast of New Jersey.

The Makimuras were at a huge carnival, which only started because of it looming over New Year's Eve, and also of Akira's accomplishments as Devilman starting to make demon activity lessen in the world currently. Speaking of Akira, Miki wasn't being her usual chipper self, as she still tried to register her best friend is the Devilman. She participated in the games at the fair, throwing balls at stacked bottles, making cotton candy, but she seemed more taciturn than her family is used to.

"..Miki?" Her mother broke the eerie silence from her once she asked in a concerned tone, snapping her daughter out of her entranced state. 

Suddenly, Kozo entered in on the brief conversation. "Sweetie, are you okay?"

"She's thinking about Akira~ I see the way she looks at him nowadays!" Taro grows a smirk as he leans in at Miki's face. His older sister just simply rolls her eyes annoyingly.

"I mean, honestly Taro...You're kind of close. Just not in the way you're thinking." Miki instinctively moves her hand to her pants pocket, coming to a bit of a shock. "Oh, shoot! Uh- hey, I forgot my phone in the car. Do you mind if I just run over and grab it?" Miki's parents nod as she runs off. It was at that moment though that she stopped once she felt an ominous wind blowing through the fair. To make matters worse, she could've sworn she saw something bright moving in the night sky. At first she dismissed it as a firefly as it faded away just as quickly as she saw it, but her suspicions were immediately debunked once that light returned, brighter and bigger than before.

Suddenly, an angelic figure descended onto the top of a carousel. It wore six wings, having a figure that looked feminine, yet muscular at the same time. The golden hair on top of its head bared a resemblance to a certain someone. It wasn't just Miki who saw it, the entire fair basically went silent as everyone stared at the angel. Miki was the only one to speak. "...Ryo?" she tilted her head, staring at him.

Almost on cue, the angelic Ryo raised a hand up, his face not budging from a small, yet cold smirk. He only muttered a few words. "A week late towards the apocalypse." Before one person could even repeat what he said out of confusion, the entire fair was suddenly engulfed by a golden light, followed by an explosion.

The moment Ryo spoke over the phone, Akira flew as fast as he could to where he knew Miki was, a carnival alongside the coast of New Jersey. Landing on a street lamp to get a view, all Akira could see was a blazing inferno from where Ryo stood. Fearfully, he uttered, _"Ryo, what have you done...?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 11. We're starting to reach the endgame now. The final two chapters will be posted next week. Serious thanks to whoever stuck around to the end of this mess. I appreciate it, and I'll see you next week!


	12. Against Satan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miki found herself waking up after everything went white for a second. At the same time, Devilman comes in to save the day and battles the archangel Satan, only one of them will live to tell the tale.

"..ki!" A faint voice was heard as Miki felt her conscious returning. "Miki!!!" She recognized the voice now. It was Taro. Almost like it was some elderly sister instincts kicking in, Miki shot up straight as though she wasn't fazed by the sudden explosion.

"Taro!?" Miki called as she finally looked around. All she saw was a dozen corpses in place of where there were people laughing and smiling, having joy she's used to seeing in fairs like this, replaced with the aftermath of a instant massacre. Some more burnt than others, some outright not in one piece. She tried her best not to cringe at what she was seeing, so she called out for her little brother once more. She picked up speed as the voice of her younger brother got louder. Perhaps a little too much speed as once she approached the rubble where she was confident Tare was trapped under, she heard the sound of feathers flapping nearby. Didn't take her long to associate those sounds with the horrible angelic thing that destroyed the place. So Miki ducked behind a destroyed tent in hopes of that thing not finding her and finishing the job.

"Come on, Miki..." The angel called out in a sinister manner. "It's just your old friend, Ryo...Let me have a look at you once more, before you become your own death..!" That confirmed her suspicions. Whatever this thing was, it was either pretending to be Ryo, or was Ryo. If the reoccurring strange circumstances are anything to go by, this was her childhood friend. Not like it'll make a difference, or was she even going to bother trying to fight him. What on earth could she do to leave a dent on a literal divine being?

She peaked out to see if the coast was clear. Swallowing her fear of getting caught, she rushed in to try to save her brother. "Hnnnk! Don't...Say anything, Taro..! I'm..getting you out!" Miki grunted with all the effort in the world trying to lift the rubble off of him.

"If this story had a happy ending, then maybe you'd have a chance to..." A much difference voice was heard as soon as Miki lifted the wood that kept Taro from moving anywhere. Looking up, Miki was face-to-face with Psycho Jenny. Her wide grin still present, growing wider as her eyes widen and began glowing a deep crimson. Miki and Taro closed their eyes waiting for something to happen, or to look away from Psycho Jenny opening her mouth wider than her body should even allow.

Before Psycho Jenny could do anything, her open mouth was suddenly impaled by a metal pole. "D-Devil..man!" Psycho Jenny weakly said as her body started to levitate again, trying to not let her current wound bother her. "If you wanted a quick death..You should've just said so." Her eyes started to glow yet again, but Akira had other plans. He reached and held open her mouth with the pole and Akira's claw, then proceeded to split her open with gross cracking sounds to accompany not just Psycho Jenny's broken jaw, but also broken body.

"Hahh...I..Was honestly expecting that to go so much more different." Akira shook himself to get the blood off of him.

"Hey, that's Devilman!" Taro says excitedly, now that Miki utilized the distraction Akira made and rescued him.

"Yeah it is- but, Taro! Where are mom and dad!?" Miki rested her hands on his shoulders with an intent look.

"Buuuh..." Taro panicked for a brief moment in thought. "Last time I heard them, they were somewhere around here!" Taro pointed over near one of the fences of the now demolished fair, near even more rubble that is likely where more people are buried under.

"Alright then...We're looking, together." Miki grimaced as she looked and saw Ryo once more. Though he didn't seem to mind the siblings.

"Well, well, well..! I was wondering when you would come and save your Lois Lane." Ryo clapped as he hovered into the sky, staring down at Akira.

"Don't give me that, Ryo! I didn't just come here to save her, I came here to deal with you!" Akira pointed at Ryo, snarling loudly all the while, Ryo just had a smirk on him.

"Ooh. How threatening. Consider me shaking in my nonexistent socks!" The blonde angel goes from feigning fear to just a neutral resting expression, with a hint of disappointment. "With the power of Amon or not, I've dealt with many things that tried to fight me. Usually other demons, though I am sometimes greeted with an exception, like some kind of sorcerer. However, despite the variety of opponents and powers, they changed nothing. Just like you." Before Akira could even register the threat, Ryo was the first to attack. Appearing as a streak of light before appearing before Akira to punch him in the gut.

"G-Gwahh..!!!" Akira grunted from the blow. But a wide grin appears on him as he grabs Ryo's fist. "At least you're saving me..The courtesy to attack first!" Akira then swung Ryo around, just to slam him on the floor rather than throw him. Akira then leaps into the air to slam down on the downed Ryo. Though instead of simply dodging out of the way, he flies up towards Akira above him, the two clash fists with each other, causing the entire area to shake like an earthquake just hit the coast.

"..Yeah..I think that's a good enough cue to look for mom and dad before they basically nuke the place." Miki muttered, seeing the two fight with Taro.

"You said it! But, man, it's so exciting to see Devilman here!" Taro meanwhile watched with glee in his eyes. Miki simply bonks him on the head to remind him they have other things to get to than watch the spectacle. "Ow! Oh..Right." Taro rubs his head as he ran with Miki towards the huge pile of wood and curtains.

"Mom? Dad? Please tell us you're there!" Miki puts her ear against a flat plank. It's muffled, but she hears a voice. It's not her parents, but she still looks at Taro. "It's not them...But get over here and help me lift!" Taro approached his sister. "Give it all you got, Taro!" They lifted as much of the wood as they could, trying to help the people under out.

"Huh!" Akira looks up to the sky to see storm clouds appearing. With a snap of Ryo's fingers, bolts rained from the sky, nearly hitting Akira at several instances. Looking down at the water below, Akira just sees lights and explosions from deep in the ocean. He's even pretty sure he saw some fishes and other marine creatures, just before a skeleton appeared in their place. "Raining thunder, huh? Pretty good." Akira scoffs at Ryo.

"Glad you're impressed, Akira. There's more where that came from--" Immediately after finishing his words, more thunderbolts rained from the sky, this time a good few hit Akira and knock him out of the sky, falling back onto the pier.

"Ow..." Akira ruffled his wings, already seeing scratches and holes, along with his fur looking more jagged than usual. Then, Akira looks and sees fire still litering the area, getting an idea. "Let's see how you like this..!" Akira takes a deep breath, the flames started to vanish and seemingly go to Akira. His entire body glows a vibrant orange as he opens his mouth, letting a huge breath of fire come scorching out and going towards Ryo.

Ryo reels back out of surprise. His shock only lasted for seconds as he places a hand out, the fire then immediately turned into water that stops and pours down under him. Not that it stopped Akira. After breathing fire, he started flying towards Ryo, expecting him to block it in however way. One of his dagger-like appendages on his forearms were out and landed a blow on Ryo's torso.

"I don't think I ever saw you bleed, Ryo..." Akira stared Ryo in the eyes, feeling confident now that he landed a hit.

"Consider that your first and last time, Akira." Ryo flies back, then tackles Akira at the fastest he could possibly fly, essentially hitting him like a battering ram until they hit the ground, creating a crater in the sand.

Miki and Taro meanwhile still haven't found their parents, but their good nature let them save at least 3 other people who survived the explosion caused by Ryo. Miki was doing fine, but Taro was clearly getting out of breath from all the lifting. "Oh, please let them be here..." Miki looked at Taro and took a deep breath. They lifted with all they had and hoped for the best.

"Hey, it's them!!!" Looking down to see their parents, they tossed (or attempted to) the rubble to the side. Now that they had a good look, Miki and Taro turned their bodies around, just now noticing their eyes were closed. "A-Are they..?" Before he could finish his question, Miki rests her ear on both their chests to listen.

"No, they're good." She assured her little brother. "They must be in shock." Miki looks at Taro once more, giving him her phone. "I need you to call 911. I'll get them somewhere safe from here."

"G-Gotcha..!" He almost teared up at the idea of his parents dying. He frantically typed the number as Miki held her father up and carried him to somewhere that she knew Akira and Ryo wouldn't fight near.

Speaking of Akira and Ryo's battle, the two emerged from under, locked in a embraced, one trying to headbutt the other. "Okay, that's enough!" In frustration, Ryo extended his arms, legs, and wings to create a huge light that blinded Akira and sent him flying back. "Playtime is officially over, Fudo..." Akira looks up after regaining his balance in height, his wings flapping. But before he knew it, he felt something grabbing onto his legs. And then his head. He realized Ryo was using some telekinetic powers to hold him up. "This is where you die!"

Akira felt his body being tested to its limits, he felt like his body was going to be stretched in half! Which of course, was Ryo's plan. "D-Damn!" Akira cursed as he struggled to get out. "Grrr...!" Akira tried to concentrate an attack to get him out of the literal bind. He curled himself as much as he could, just for a laser to come from his forehead. He isn't sure what he hit, but he knew he hit something from the way Ryo recoiled, letting Akira go.

"I've..Never had anyone escape my grasp like that..." Ryo snarled. "Fine, I'll admit I made a mistake in underestimating your resistance. But you know me, my praises can only last for so long!"

"And you know me, I hate it when your pompous ass gets all rambly. Just fight!" Akira twirls around, flying to Ryo to deliver a punch that again causes the area to shake, and sends the angel flying off.

"For your own sake then, we'll do it at your pace." Ryo rubs his mouth to wipe any potential blood Akira might've caused. "You'll see despair as the only bit of mercy for a while..." Ryo taunted, flying forward to Akira to deliver several punches, and slaps from his wings. Finishing his combo with a blast of energy that sends Akira back onto the ground. "Surrender your life! Just maybe I'll make it less painful." Using his telekinetic powers once more, he lifts a boulder from the water and throws it onto Akira below to crush him.

The speed of the boulder being thrown as so powerful that it shattered upon impact. But it's clear the damage was substantial enough to have Akira hurt enough to struggle standing. "N-Nice shot..." Akira coughs up blood as he looks up at Ryo. 

"Oh, how pitiful..." Ryo stares Akira down as he descends. "I can feel myself getting stronger Akira- much stronger...This is only the tip of the iceberg. So just do yourself a favor for once and just die!" Ryo then lifts a hand as lighting surges around him. Before he could fire a deadly blow, something hits him. A bullet! Ryo turns to face the soul who shot him, just for someone else to throw something at him. It felt like a brick. Now frustrated, his glare is met with various people standing against him in the inferno. Not demons, people.

"That got your attention, huh feathers!?" Among the shouting people, more things started to get thrown at Ryo. Even Akira was taken back by the sudden riot. He knew that they knew they stood no chance against something like Ryo. "Leave Devilman alone, you're gonna smite someone trying to do his damn job?!"

"I beg pardon..?" Ryo puts a hand out to strike those with a blast, just to get shot by a police officer. "Days ago you were calling him a monster!" Just then, Ryo gets smacked in a face by a metal pipe.

"Yeah he's a monster! He's our monster! He's our Jersey Devil! You mess with him, you mess with New Jersey!" Another person shouted. Akira looks towards the crowd and saw various people, and among them were the Makimuras siblings. Just then, he pieced together that Taro called the police officers along with an ambulance just to help his parents. As the people helped essentially caused a distraction for Ryo, Akira felt his wounds regenerating away. He's not 100% healthy, but he was healthy enough to sneak up on Ryo and once again breathes a huge wall of fire.

"What in the--!?" Ryo looks behind him just in time to see the flames. He attempted to block it with his wings, but the heat was too strong that it started to truly harm him. Just then, a missile came and landed on him. The explosion created a crater where Ryo was and caused Akira to experience some of the blow. Though nowhere near as much as the angel.

"Yeah!" Taro cheered. Miki followed through with a clap as the others joined in with their victorious cheers.

"..Huh." Akira blinked and stared at the hole. "That wasn't in my plans, but I'll take it." Akira flies up to see the crowd of people, police, and even some military members. Once they saw him, everyone cheered for the demon. It felt good to be praised as much as he was. So he just waves to the people.

"Good work, Devilman!"

"Nice!"

"That was awesome!"

He could at least make out those words among the cheering. "Glad you liked it...I doubt I'll be doing something like that again." Akira exhaled, clearly out of breath and exhausted from the battle.

"Tch..." Ryo of course, wasn't done. A single hand rose from the hole. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me..." Before Akira could sense Ryo, Ryo lifted himself up and flew towards Akira. The only one who could even come close to shouting from the surprise was Miki.

"Devilman, watch out!" Miki saw Ryo regaining himself and tried to warn Akira as quickly as she could.

Akira looked back and was lifted by his throat. "Ghhk!!!" He struggled to get out of the grip by slashing at Ryo's face with his claws, causing four bloody cuts to run down his face. Though that didn't stop Ryo from flying with Akira in his grip.

"..Oh no..." Miki looked at the people, who were registering that Devilman got slipped by Satan. She didn't want to stand around and wait for something to happen, so she runs and follows the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Chapter 12....  
> Wow. The next chapter is going to be the final chapter. I truly and genuinely hope you enjoyed it my lovely reader. I'll see you tomorrow to end this. Feel free to comment any feedback and I'll see you next time.


	13. Breaking The Loop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Satan was not killed. He still has some fight left in him, and he'll make sure he spend that last bit of energy in him to make Akira's last moments as painful as he can. Will Akira be able to power through and cease the victory? Or will this just end up fulfilling the dark prophecy predicted by the Mayans?

The entirety New Jersey barely could have a peaceful night anymore. The battle between Akira and Ryo was enough to get the entire state to wake up for the battle. If it wasn't the climatic battle, the light Ryo was radiating as he flew with Akira in his grip was probably enough to get more than enough peoples attention as to what's happening. "You've been a thorn in my side, long enough Akira!" Ryo shouted in annoyance, carrying Akira through the air by just his neck. The cuts still running down his face.

"Hey, feelings are mutual..." Akira squeaked out through the choke hold. The power struggle took the two of them to a church. Akira used his wings to steer Ryo's flight to his right. Then he looked down to aim another beam at Ryo, that caused him to be completely disoriented and causing the two to fly through the glass pane window, landing in the church, both completely battered up now.

"God in heaven..." No pun intended on Ryo's part. "You really are too stubborn for your own good." Ryo lifted himself up, struggling to stand strong. "You're just a cockroach. Yet somehow more annoying and disgusting..." He struggled, limping towards the downed Akira. "This world should be burning. I should be leading an army of demons. Psycho Jenny should be alive as my humble right-hand partner who should've fried your brain. Yet who's standing in my way in that goal? **YOU!** "

"Heh...You're welcome. I aim to please after all, Ryo. Hehe.." Akira chuckles, only to puke blood. "Damn, it hurts to laugh..."

Ryo then stops at less than a foot away from Akira. "Hm..I suppose there is one good thing to gather from this. Is that if I can't even walk straight, then you must not be in the best shape either. You probably can't even lift yourself, can you?"

Akira can't help but just nod. "And you'd be right..." He tried to push himself up. He was making progress, but there was nearly no point now that Ryo was looming over him.

"Which means I have more than enough power to finish you off here..." Ryo lifted a hand above his head. Rather than simply charge an attack, it looked as though he was getting ready to chop Akira.

Outside, Miki followed the two to the church they were fighting inside. She arrived by borrowing a scooter and riding her way there. She listened in on Ryo ranting to Akira as she climbed to the roof. She felt she needed to help. She needed to do something in order for Akira not to meet an early grave, fast. That's when she realized Ryo was below a chandelier. As he lifted his hand, Miki undid the screws and hooks that were keeping the chandelier in place.

"It's been fun, Akira. Maybe in a new life, you can make better decisions that won't end with your demise at my hand." Ryo's hand swung down, but before it reached Akira's neck, glass and metal scraped and shattered on him as the entire chandelier fell on top of him. It was more than enough to cause him to stop. Looking up, he sees Miki, looking at him with a newfound confidence and stern stare. "Oh, I should've known you wanted to save him...How gutless."

"..How is saving someone's life gutless, Ryo?" She stared up at him now that the blonde was glaring at her. "I did what I did because I knew it was the right thing."

"..Rather befitting a pure girl like you chose a church to be your final resting place." Ryo smirked, as storm clouds started to swirl above. Unbeknownst to him, Akira still had some fight left in him as Miki gave him the biggest possible opportunity. He just hoped he could follow up with it without one of them dying. He crept his way towards a large crucifix on the wall and pulled it off. "Like Akira down there, you're adorable. I understand you want to make a difference Miki. But this just isn't in the cards for you. So go on, pray and hope for something fast and painless. Because the big old guy upstairs, God? He can't do much to save you at this moment."

"That's...Because God isn't trying as hard as I am..!" Akira shouted as he flew behind Ryo, holding the crucifix.

In the brief moment, Ryo knew he couldn't counter this one. Before Akira landed his blow, he just let out a empty, disappointed, "Oh." as the only reaction he could muster. Once time felt like it resumed for Ryo, a sharp pain rocked his body. The cross pierced his skin and caused him to gasp and moan in pain. He tried his best to push the crucifix out from him, but Akira had other plans...

"HyaaaAAAHHHH!!!!!" Akira screamed with all the strength he could at the moment, the hunk of wood ended up cutting up Ryo's body, and splitting him up his shoulder. The pain was more than enough to be a fatal blow to Ryo, he could feel his organs, blood, and bones pouring out no thanks to Akira. Moments later, Ryo finally felt everything going numb, and his now mangled body fell in front of Miki. Akira meanwhile, smirked. "I..I won." He panted. He had one last look at Miki before falling backwards, landing back in the church, creating a huge crater. All he heard before losing consciousness was Miki shouting his name. Then everything went black.

Akira's eyes slowly fluttered open as his vision was greeted with blinding lights. Not the most assuring thing considering the last time there was light in front of him- it was radiating from the person that was trying to kill him. "Akira?" But hope came to him as he recognized that voice. It was Miki, and it was a sound for sore ears.

"M..Miki?" Akira finally muttered words, it felt weird to talk which only made him wonder; how long was he out? Only made him question even more as he didn't feel the wooden planks of the church he remembered fighting Ryo in, it was a hospital bed. He had difficulty propping himself up, something Miki helped with making more convenient by hitting the button on the side to make the bed rise to make Akira assume a sitting up pose.

"Don't worry, Akira...Ryo's dead." She held the exhausted Akira's hand to comfort him. "The doctors also said you recovered rather quickly...But let's be honest, being Devilman works wonders on the wounds doesn't it?" It was at that moment Akira heard loud noises outside. They also caused the brunette to look, only to gain a smile. She knew what it was, and so did Akira after moments of processing. "You hear that? They're celebrating you~" to add to the fireworks outside, they both heard singing...

_"♪ In the dark, who is that? Who is that? Who is that? Who is that? He is called the Devil! The Devilman! He's Devilman!♪ "_

"Yeah," Akira weakly smiled. "But are they celebrating Akira, or are they celebrating Devilman?"

Miki simply giggles. "Wellll, as far as I care, they're celebrating both." Suddenly Miki leaned into Akira's cheek and..gave him a peck on the cheek. "Also, Happy New Year Akira~" If he weren't too busy recovering from the battle with Ryo, he'd feel the place she kissed him. "The least I can do for our hero of Justice, right?" He isn't objecting to it. If anything, he entirely welcomes any form of physical affection. "You'll always save us, and I'll always have your back."

"I couldn't ask for anything better..." Akira says as he lays back on the bed. "After all. What better way to use demon powers than for saving the world..." Akira raised his pinkie finger to Miki. She simply takes up on the pinkie swear with a less happy smile and more of a smile of encouragement.

Minutes later, Akira emerged from the roof as Devilman. All the while "The Song of Devilman" plays as he soars through the sky. Looking through the night sky and the glistening lights of the streets below, everyone who praises his heroic endeavors look on and cheer for him at just the simple glimpse of him. Akira allows everyone to get a good look at him as he perches himself on a building with a gargoyle. He was starting to realize maybe the life of a hero of justice as the song says won't be too shabby. He has a family who loves him, a girlfriend who loves him just as much. Reflection will have to wait as his ears alert him to a demon's presence nearby. He knew this would be an easy one as he smirks while saying. "Let me show you what Devilman can do, big guy..." With that, Akira flew off, like a hawk in the night finding its next prey. All the while, the song continued.

_"♪ He's a hero. So just and fair. He's Devilman! He's Devilman!!!♪ "_

Fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..That's it. As it stands, Devilman 12/21 is officially finished. However, there is some bonus stuff I feel like releasing today as well. Both of which are teasers on what is potentially to arrive.
> 
> But that being said. I dedicate this entire chapter to you, the reader. My friends, my family, all of those who supported me and saw through to the end.
> 
> I can't put into words how glad I am to have made this despite the stress it caused on me and fears. I wanted to show what I could do, and this was possibly the best I could make. A full story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
> 
> So...  
> Thank you.


	14. Side Chapter: Someone is calling for you...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Akira has been keeping up his Devilman act, under his nose someone was also fighting for justice. A warrior of love.

A car drove up to a scene, a bank that was long since evacuated. A detective paired with a couple of normal police officers. "Alright then, what's the scoop?"

"There was an attack here." One of the officers responded. "Likely a demon attack that was stopped by Devilman." The trio entered the bank, noticing the corpses littered around with large slash marks going across their bodies. It was at that moment the detective in the operation leaned down to examine.

"Hm..It couldn't have been Devilman." They push the one body to examine the wounds more closely. "These wounds are far more reserved than anything he could have done. Almost like the assailant was holding back doing more damage."

Soon one of the other cops caught onto something important. Other than the fact that the 'demons' in question didn't appear like demons, but normal people. "Aren't these those thieves that've been around for... literal decades? They have the same attire. The only thing they got going for them is the blue skin under their masks."

"Ah, yes..." The detective nodded. "These must be the Panther Claw then. Though I don't know why their bodies have not been altered heavily by demonic possession. Besides, if Devilman wasn't the one who dealt with them, who could've?"

"I'm sorry," A feminine voice came from seemingly out of nowhere, causing the three to look around. "Were you expecting something different? Everyone can have a little change of pace, right?" A shadowy figure stood in front of the entrance with a hand on their hip. The relax posture changed as once they looked the figure's way, it ran out the door and jumped onto a street lamp.

"Are you the one who fought against the Panther Claw? Who are you- what are you?" The officers stared at the figure once more. Several helicopter's began shining their spotlights to get a view of the mysterious fighter.

"Nobody too scary..." The spotlights landed on the person, revealing a woman with a slender body, short reddish-pink hair, and a rapier. "I'm just Honey~" She gave a wink before grabbing onto her choker. "Maybe we can continue this next time..." Then she shouted, "HONEY FLASH!" A bright light enveloped the streets, and the sound of a motorcycle echoed after. The woman long since vanished when the light dimmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the side chapters that take place someone chronologically after the story.  
> Yep, I have quite a bit planned. Cutie Honey is entering the fray of this AU~
> 
> Anyway, I'll see you in the next extra chapter, which technically is the last chapter.


	15. Side Chapter: I'll be your Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning home, Akira meets a older gentleman who makes a kind, but important offer that will change everything as he knows it.

Akira returns home, landing on the rooftop as Devilman a day well done. However, the moment his wings retracted into his back, he was greeted with a voice unlike anyone else's. "Right on time Devilman. Busy day I take it?" Akira turns to meet a man hiding in the shadows. Only one eye was visible.

Akira simply stares at the other. "Depends on who's asking..."

"I'll take that as a yes then." The figure emerges from the darkness. He had shaggy brown hair, scars all around his face and one missing eye. In terms of attire, he had a long cape and his shirt had a skull on it. "Don't be alarmed, but yes, I do know your identity, Akira Fudo." He grew a smile to make himself appear more inviting. "You're quite a phenomenal figure, and I want you to join me. We'll have other phenomenal figures unified under a good cause- protect the world from any and all threats and ensure peace. Giant Robots, sorcerers, sword-wielding demons, this is a bigger world that goes beyond Satan himself, young man."

Akira took a moment to consider it. This pirate looking man essentially came out of nowhere and asked him to join a team he has no idea of who it consists of. Staring down the man once more, he pops a question. "Let's say, I do take you up on that. I don't mind who or what is in your team...What's your name?"

"Captain. Captain Harlock." Harlock gives a bow as he approached Akira. "You don't need to take up my offer. Whether it's important to you or not, is entirely of your own free will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before people comment on the length of these chapters, these chapters are intended to be small and are only intended for world building. 
> 
> As it stands officially, Devilman 12/21 is officially done. No more extra bonus chapters, we're officially done here.
> 
> I once again say thank you for everyone who stuck around until the end, my friends, family, and others who gave me that additional push.
> 
> Thank you, and I'll see you next time in what I teased; Cutie Honey: Panther Hunt.


End file.
